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THIRD EDITION 



;S hi IN t , L A. 




DR. B. C. PLATT. 

Author Bonanza Rabbitry Manual. 

President National Association of Belgian Hare Judges. 

Proprietor Bonanza Rabbitry, Los Angeles. Cal. 



Til 



Copyrifrlit api-lied for by 
DR. B. C. PLATT. 

1900. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 
Introduction ... ..... 3 

Pi'esent Status of the Belgian Hare . . . . .5 

Tlie American Standard of Excellence .... 5 

Description ........ 7 

Champion Fashoda . . . . . . . 1), £'5 

Standard of Excellence for Heavy-weight Belgian Hares . . 9 

Scale for Rating Fat Hares . . . . . .10 

Still Another Type ... . . . .10 

The Hare as a Marlvet Commodity ..... 11 

What the Hare Will Produce . . . . . .11 

Fecundity of the Hare . . . . . . .12 

Another Interesting Computation ..... 13 

Rabbit Farming ....... 14 

The Rabbitry .... .... 15 

Our Complete Plans for Rabbitries . . . . .17 

Breeding and Rearing . . . . . . .30 

Management and Care in General . ... .32 

Care and Management of the Doe . . . . .3.5 

Care and Management of the Young . . . . .37 

General Suggestions . . . . . . .38 

Keep the Pens Clean . . . . , . .39 

The Question of Food . . . . . . .41 

Principal Diseases of the Hare ..... 42 

General Preventive Measures . . . . . .43 

Colic in Young Hares . . . . . . .51 

Vent Disease . . . . . ... 51 

Caked or Swollen Breast ...... 54 

The Hare and Mother Earth . . . . . .54 

Some Hobbies of the English . . . . . .57 

Determining the Sex in Young Hares .... 58 

To Castrate Hares ....... 58 

Directions for Cooking . . . . . . .59 

Dressing the Hare for Market ... . . .64 

Reserve the Pelts ....... 65 

A Word as to Shipping . ..... 65 

Caring for Hares on Arrival after a Journey . . . " 66 

Instructions to Fxoress Messengers . . . . .66 

Keep q CoTiDlete Record ...... 66 

Breeding Prize-Winners ...... 67 

Resist ration ........ 7?? 

Scientific Preparation of Hares for Exhibition ... 77 

Breeders' Association . . . . . . . 83 

Advantage of Public Exhibitions ..... 84 

Organize and Conduct Expositions . . . . .84 

The Score Card versus Comparison Judging ... 87 

The Necessity of Having Competent Judges . . . .90 

The Judging of Judges ...... 90 

A Standard for Rating Judges ..... 91 

Honorable Application of the Score Card System of Judging . 92 

The Spirit of the True Fancier ..... 92 

A Belgian Hare Enthusiast ...... 94 

Commercial Future of the Belgian . . . . .97 

Canning the Belgian . . . . . . .99 

Value of the Pelts . ... . . .99 

For Use in Furs ....... 101 

As a Novelty . • • • • • • .101 

An Item of Public Interest . . . . . .101 

Summary ........ 101 

Avoid Inbreeding . ...... 102 




BONANZA QUEEN. 

Property of Bonanza Rabbitry. First attempt 
to illustrate the Belgian Hare in the United 
States. Presented b.y the Bonanza Rabbitry 
in 1897 



THE 



BONANZA RABBITRY 
MANUAL 



A PRACTICAL TREATISE 

Presenting Tested and Approved Methods for the 

Mating, Feeding, Management, Exhibiting and Marketing 

of the 

Prolific and Profitable 
Far-famed Belgian Hare 

NOBLEST OF THE RABBIT FAMILY 

fay 
DR. B: C. PLATT 






MAILED ON RECEIPT OF PRICE 



address: 



DR. B. C. PLATT 

No. 930 Grand View Avenue 
Los Angeles, California 



Copyright, 1900. by B. C. PLATT 
PRICE $1.00 



74173 



40148 

Library of Con^ireM 

■"wo Copies RecEivfo 
AUG 29 1900 

Copyright (ntry 

SECOND copy. 

Dftiversd te 

ORDtR DIVISION, 
SfL_A_1900 



dbis yiRanual 



Is the most complete and comprehensive work of its kind ever issued. 
It gives full directions on every detail — for constructing a rabbitry, 
stocking it with the prime favorite of the rabbit family wherever 
known, the Belgian Hare; for breeding, rearing, managing, feeding, 
marketing and cooking this dainty animal, a most toothsome and pop- 
ular luxury for the table. By following the directions herein con- 
tained every fancier may secure success and profit. It is the result of 
extensive experience and many original experiments. The present 
edition has been revised, enlarged and greatly improved. Many im- 
portant topics omitted in previous editions are here fully discussed. 

That its perusal may lead to a profitable occupation for many 
persons, and the gradual development of a still better type of an 
already noble animal, is the wish of 

The Author. 



The Bonanza Rabbitry Manual 



The Belgian hare has received his 
highest development in England, where 
he has passed through various interest- 
ing phases, and England still sets the 
fashion for the world in hares as in 
some other things. There, some fifty 
years ago or more, certain people of an 
inquiring turn of mind conceived the 
idea of breeding, by inter-mating dif- 
ferent types of rabbit, a rabbit that 
should resemble, as closely as possible, 
the native, wild, English hare, but with 
important improvements. The wild 
hare is a slow breeder. The female pro- 
duces only two or three litters a year, 
and only two or three young at a 
litter. Other breeds of rabbit are very 
prolific. The wild hare pines away and 
dies in captivity. Other breeds are 
easily domesticated. But the wild hare 
in form, color, action and all that goes 
to make a beautiful animal, has 
charms and graces that no other species 
possesses. 

Therefore, taking the wild hare as 
a model, the first experimenters selected 
individuals of other varieties and mated 
them to produce a progeny closely re- 
sembling the wild hare. The wild hare 
will not mate with any other breed. If 
it would the problem before these en- 
thusiasts in old England would have 
been vastly simpler than it was. But 
all efforts, and many have been made, 
to secure a cross between the wild hare 
and some other variety have been ut- 
terly without result. The product of 
crossing breeds may be termed a mule, 
and will not produce young. 

The end of the long series of ex- 
periments is the modem, high-class, 
thoroughbred Belgian hare, and he is a 
very different individual from those first 



obtained. These latter were called Le- 
porines. They were dark, grayish, spot- 
ted, mottled beasts, far removed in 
beauty from the true Belgian as he ex- 
ists today, with a rich, "rufus red" as 
the foundation of his splendid glossy 
coat, and approximating far more closely 
than the Leporine the beautiful ideal 
established by the wild hare of Eng- 
land. Not only is the modern Belgian 
very attractive in appearance, but he is 
exceedingly prolific, readily adapts him- 
self to captivity and, as a table luxury, 
his flesh is a most distinct and appetiz- 
ing novelty. These facts give him a 
two-fold value; first, to the fancier and 
breeder on scientific principles; and, sec- 
ond, to the man of humbler, perhaps 
coarser tastes, whose soul and pocket- 
book can be reached only through his 
stomach. 

England is today sending her finest 
specimens, at enormous prices compared 
with the prices of two or three years 
ago, into Germany, France, Austria and 
especially to America. These are the 
fancy individuals selected, and exported 
for breeding purposes only. The other 
phase of the industry, that of providing 
a delicious article of food, has reached 
enormous proportions in Europe and 
millions of pounds of hare meat are con- 
sumed every week in the great cities of 
the Old World. 

The Belgian has become at once ex- 
tremely popular wherever he has been 
introduced. It is a fact that no com- 
munity, so far as heard from, has ever 
refused to receive and encourage this 
beautiful little animal. His progress has 
probably been more rapid in Southern 
California than in most other sections. 
Within eighteen months, from about 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



November i, 1898, to May i, 1900, some 
1400 rabbitries, averaging nearly one 
hundred head each were founded In this 
part of the State of California, a dis- 
trict with a population of only about 
300,000 people. This is a vivid illustra- 
tion of the taking qualities of this 
noblest and most useful of the rabbit 
family. 

There are various reasons for this 
great popularity of the Belgian hare 
wherever known. The first of these is 
his beauty. I shall discuss this more 
at length in my description of the Bel- 
gian in a succeeding paragraph. The 
second is his docility and fondness for 
fondling. The Belgian hare makes a 
most attractive pet. He is intelligent, 
becomes attached to his owner, can 
readily be trained to pose and to come 
at call. He appreciates care and gocd 
treatment. The third reason is the in- 
terest aroused in every member of the 
family fortunate enough to own Belgians 
by observing the habits of the ^.ninial, 
especially of the does in caring for the'r 
young. As in all wild animals (for the 
Belgian is really a wild animal domesti- 
cated) the mother love is very strong. 
All their habits of life, the poses that 
th^y assume, their ways of communicat- 
ing with each other, their care of their 
persons, etc., are intensely interesting. 
Every sound mind harbors a love for 
animals, and the wild traits, such as 
are shown in the/ Belgian, are those with 
which we are least familiar and which 
are therefore most intensely interesting. 

A fourth reason is the fascination of 
mating individuals so as to secure best 
results in the progeny. This appeals to 
the scientific turn in every man's brain. 
It is a well known fact that a type may 
be fixed in six generations — that 's to 
say, you may take an ordinary animal, 
say a cow or a mare, rvnd by mating 
with an improved specimen of the op- 
posite sex produce better offspring than 
the mother. Repeat this process six 
times and you have an inimal which is 
entitled to registration as a thorough- 
bred. This could be done in the case of 



the Belgian in less than two years. 
Whether carried to this extreme or not, 
the improvement of the species has for 
any man with a talent for this sort of 
development a most profound interest 
besides the absorbing excitement of a 
legitimate speculation. 

All of these reasons are founded in the 
more esthetic and refined phases of the 
industry. Besides these there is the 
commercial side. The Belgian, so far, 
has uniformly afforded a profit. In 
this country the highest profits have 
been in the best stock, that taken up by 
the "fancy," so-called. But as a pro- 
ducer of delicious meat the Belgian has 
no equal, for the size of the animal and 
the cost of meat-producing stock. The 
meat is all white, tender a.nd sweet. It 
has no "wild" flavor, but is very simi'ur 
to the best chicken or turkey, with 
enough difference to make it novel. One 
doe will readily produce six litters a 
year, averaging eight to the litter. These 
will average at birth three ounces in 
weight. In fourteen days they will in- 
crease! in size five or six times, then weigh- 
ing from fifteen to twenty ounces. From 
this point they will gain a pound a 
month to five or six months, at matur- 
ity from six to eight months they will 
weigh eight or nine pounds each. This 
meat sells readily at 25 cents per pound 
dressed. Allowing one-third for waste 
a doe will produce in one year 252 pounds 
of meat, ready for the market and 
readily salable at 25 cents per pound. 
This amounts to $63. The first cost 
of the doe will not exceed $15 and her 
keeping for the year will be not more 
than $3. This leaves a clear profit, over 
cost of animal and all, of at least $45, 
and the original investment is still left. 
This is a very moderate estimate. It 
has been far exceeded in some instances. 

We must not lose sight of the value 
of the pelts which are worth from 25 
cents to $1 each, according to their 
beauty, the place at which they are sold 
and the use for which they are intended. 
In the East there are some extensive 
establishments raising Belgians prin- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



cipally for the purpose of manufactur- 
ing the hair of pelts into silk hats. They 
are also made into rugs, muffs, mittens, 
gloves, collarettes and cloaks for ladies' 
and children's wear. These are very 
handsome. Dealers abroad have a pro- 
cess of "plucking" by which some of the 
hairs are removed, leaving on the re- 
mainder of the fur a rich, seal-brown 
color and luster. A machine has recently 
been invented which accomplishes the 
same result without plucking, simply by 
cutting off the dark tips of the fur. This 
process involves no coloring or artificial 
dyeing, although there is another beau- 
tiful product, known as "electric seal," 
which comes from a process of dyeing. 
The pelt of the up-to-date high type 
Belgian is worth several times as much 
as the pelt of the common class of Bel- 
gians. 

PRESENT STATUS OF THE BELGIAN 
HARE. 

In England there are many clubs of 
Belgian hare breeders who hold large 
annual exhibitions and offer numerous 
prizes of money, cups, etc., for the best 
specimens. In fact, this industry has 
now been developed to a point in Eng- 
land where large amounts of capital 
are invested and rabbitries exist in every 
part of the kingdom. English breeders 
have been very persistent and enthusi- 
astic in their constant efforts to produce 
higher and better types. Many of their 
fairs are open only to limited areas or 
districts and these smaller fairs are 
held very frequently, usually lasting 
only a day or two or three days. The 
winners at these district fairs are all 
placed on exhibition at the great Crys- 
tal Palace show, which is the crowning 
fair of the year and is held in the mag- 
nificient Crystal Palace at London. The 
highest prize given is the Crystal 
Palace cup, valued at $250, and the win- 
ner of this becomes the acknowledged 
champion of the year. We present here- 
with a cut of this cup. This must be 
won at three successive exhibitions to 
entitle its holder to its ownership. 



In recent years, Germany, France and 
Austria, as well as the United States 
have become greatly interested in breed- 
ing the finer types of the Belgian and 
the demand thus created has drawn 
heavily upon the resources of English 
breeders and has raised the prices in 
England to a mark that seems extrava- 
gant. Three hundred dollars, or even 
more, have been paid for single speci- 
mens, to which price must be added the 
cost of bringing them to this country. 
The hare first attracted attention in 
America about nine years ago. A few 
specimens were exhibited at the World's 
fair, and later, at many poultry shows. 
But no great interest was aroused until 
within four or five years. Now there 
are several associations throughout the 
country. Several large exhibitions have 
been held in Boston, New York and 
other Eastern cities, and at Los Angeles, 
in February, 1900, was held the largest 
and most successful exhibition ever held 
anywhere, with the highest prizes. Los 
Angeles has thus become, within the 
past two years, the center of the Bel- 
gian hare industry in America. And 
within th'S period of two years at least 
fifteen hundred rabbitries have been 
established in Southern California, a 
section having a population of only 
about 300,000 people. 

THE AMERICAN STANDARD OF EX- 
CELLENCE. 
The American standard of excellence 
for the Belgian hare is identical with 
the English standard, which has been 
in vogue for several years. It is as 
follows: 



DISQUALIFICATIONS. 

I. Lopped or fallen ear or ears. 2. 
White front feet or white bar or bars 
on same. 3. Decidedly wry front feet. 
4. Wry tail. 

A specimen should have the benefit of 
any doubt. 
COLOR. — Rich Rufus-red (not 

dark, smudgy color,) carried well 

down sides and hind quarters, and 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




Reduced fac-simile of the Crystal Palace Challenge Cup won by Fashoda at the great 
Pet Stock Exhibition in London, England, November 1st, 1899. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 7 

as little white under thel jaws Some points in the above standard 

as possible 20 will be as unintelligible as Greek to 

TICKING^Ratheii wavy a,ppear- ^^' uninitiated unless explained. The 

ance and plentiful 15 "R^f^s-^ed" color referred to is very 

SHAPE.-Body-long, slim well '^^^'^y ^^^^^^ "P"*^ ^^^ ^"^^ °^ ^ 
tucked up flank, and well ribbed" ^'^^^^^ ^^^^ian of the latest type, but 
up; back slightly ardhed; loins '^ '^ ^'^'""^^ °* description or of under- 
well rounded, not choppy; head ^^^^^^^^ '""''^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ''^^^- " '^' 
-rather lengthy; muscular chest; however, a very rich color, with a most 
tail-straight, not screwed; and al- beautiful and peculiar luster. The 
together of a racy appearance.... 20 "ticking" is a tipping of black upon 

„,„„ ^, ^ . , ,. the end of each hair over portiorvs of 

EARS — About five inches, thin, ^v. -^ ^ o^u- j.i.j t-ui. 

^ , the body. This, as stated, should be 
well laced on tips, and as far down , . ^ 1. ^ ^ ™vu 

., , ., , _ wavy and heavy and abundant. The 

outside edges as possible; good «, • ,, ^.i • -u ^ j: -u-i 1 

. ., , , ., , „ "lacing" on the ear is a band of black 

color inside and outside, and well , ■ ■, ^ ■. , , •, 

such as might be made by a wide pen 

stroke with a pen dipped in jet black 

EYES.— Hazel color, large round, j^j^ j^ extends from the tip about 

bright and bold 10 ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^j^g ^^^ on each side. 

LEGS AND FEET.— Forefeet and The back of the ear should be the 

legs— long, straight, slender, well coveted "golden tan" shade, extending 

colored and free from white bars; close to this lacing. There should be a 

hind feet as well colored as pos- tint like a Gold of Ophir rose between 

sible ; 10 the ticking of the sides and the snow 

SIZE. — About eight pounds 5 white of the belly. Some specimens 

CONDITION.— Not fat, but flesh also have a creamy or golden tan shad- 
firm like a race horse, and good iJ^S "^^ex the jaws, which is very beau- 
quality of fur 5 tiful. The tip of the tail should border 

WITHOUT DEWLAP s ^^ golden tan, with snow white under- 

neath. The feet must all be a deep 
red, both the front feet and the hind 

Total 100 feet. This is an exceedingly difficult 

shade to obtain and almost as difficult to 

describe. It resembles mahogany, but 

DESCRIPTION. has a brighter luster. It is like a wine 

The above standard applies only to color, but not as deep a shade. It 

the popular type of the Belgian, which might be called maroon, but is a little 

might be designated as the fancy, or barker. Whatever it may be called, 

exhibition, type. There is another type it gives a finish to the whole effect as 

known as the heavyweight Belgian, yet rarely seen «pon Belgians in this 

which is the practical meat-producing country. 

type. Another variety which is some- , , 

,. f J ..v. XI. 1- • 1.x In any way that you regard the har- 

times confused with the heavyweight . ■^ ,,, r,, 

T, , . ., -a., ■ ^ /-.• X moniously blended colors of the true 

Belgian, is the Flemish Giant. . , . , „ ^ 

^, . X JVC V X X,. belgian, his coat is a marvel and a de- 

There is a vast difference between these . . , ^ , ,x 

X • , , . J ,-x £ light. At four months of age he moults 

two in color, markings and quality of . 

flesh. There is also a difference, well ^^^ ^akes on a permanent coat which 

marked, in favor of the heavyweight ^^ ^^ '^^'^''^ ^^ '^^ht months, but will 

T, , • V x XI. X 3 deepen in the beautiful shades in his 

Belgian, between these two, as regards ^ 

spirit, activity, alertness, style in gen- °^^ '''^^' ^'^^'^ ^^^'^'' ^* ^^°"^ ^^' 

eral, vigor and longevity. t^^^^*^ "^'^"t*^- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




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THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



CHAMPION FASHODA is by Cham- 
pion Edinboro, dam by Fairy King. Im- 
ported by, and property of the Bonanza 
Rabbitry. His English record is as 
follows: Winner of first and special 
at Batley, Thorn, Bishop Auckland, Cud- 
worth Ashton-under-Lyne and Tun- 
bridge Wells; first at Barnetby and Os- 
sett; first special and cup at Middlesbor- 
ough; first and cup at Caterham, Leices- 
ter and the Crystal Palace; four medals, 
making the total of twelve firsts, seven 
specials, four medals and four challenge 
cups, including the Crystal Palace Cup, 
of 1899 — a record never before equalled 
on the English Exhibition Circuit. 

The above cut is a correct picture, 
from a photograph, of Champion Fashoda, 
the latest gem of two continents, winner 
of the Crystal Palace cup in November i, 
1899, and of the international champion- 
ship, one hundred dollars in gold, at Los 
Angeles in February, 1900. Fashoda is 
a marvel, not only in color, markings 
and symmetry of form, but also in his 
alertness and bouyancy of spirit. He 
is of unusual intelligence which is mani- 
fested both in his appearance and in 
his adaptability to handling and posing. 
He is a very appreciative pet. We pres- 
ent this cut of Champion Fashoda as 
a study of the latest and highest type 
of the Belgian. 

STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR 
HEAVYWEIGHT BELGAIN 
HARES. 
DISQUALIFICATIONS. 
I. — Lopped or fallen ears. 2. — White 
front feet, or white bar or bars on same. 
3. — Decidedly wry front feet. 4. — Wry 
tail. 5. — Matuie specimens weighing 
le^s then ten pounds. A specimen should 
have the benefit of any doubt. 
COLOR. 
Ticking should be moderately plentiful 
and quite wavy, ranging in quantity in 
the importance of the order in which 
the sections are here named — viz., hips, 
back, upper sides. It should not extend 
to lower sides, over shoulders, nor on 
breast, and front legs. 



Special sections, a deep cream color 
under jaws, a bright cream color under 
belly, and white under tail. Lacing, 
dense black, extensive in length, and con- 
fined closely to the edge of ear. Color 
proper, rich Rufus red, not smudgy, and 
free from dense blue undercolor. 
SIZE. 

The animals should be long in verte- 
brae (between couplings,) long in limb, 
have ears 51-2 inches, and possess large 
eyes. Weight, eleven pounds. 
SHAPE. 

The head should be long and moder- 
ately coarse; the ears not to thick; the 
eyes round and bold; breast, full with 
evenly-carried dewlap; front legs and 
feet, coarse, heavy-boned, straight and 
firm in bone and joint; body round and 
massive, a continuous arch carried from 
back to tail, with no tendency to square- 
ness on rump. 

CONDITION. 

The flesh should be firm; the fur in 
good, healthy condition; the animal 
moderately close-coated and tight- 
skinned, thus giving it an active, alert 
appearance. 



SCALE OF POINTS.-VALTTATION. 
COLOR. 

Ticking, quantity 5 Points. 

Ticking, quality 5 Points. 

Back 4 Points. 

Sides 4 Points. 

Hindquarters 4 Points. 

Jaws 2 Points. 

Lacing 2 Points. 

Ears 2 Points. 

Eyes 2 Points. 

Shoulders 2 Points. 

Belly 2 Points. 

Front legs and feet . 4 Points. 

Hind legs and feet 4 Points. 

SIZE. 

Length of Vertebre 4 Points. 

Length of Front Legs 4 Points. 

Length of Hind Legs 4 Points. 

Length of Ears 2 Points. 

Size of Eye ... 2 Points. 

Weight of specimen 4 Points. 



10 THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANAUL. 

SHAPE. in weight by waste than does the stand- 
Head 4 Points. ard-bred. But this fact is undoubtedly 

breast 4 Points. due to a lack of well-directed effort in 

Front Legs and Feet 4 Points. the selection of specimens for mating. 

^^^^ 4 Points. More skillful mating would doubtless 

^y^^ ' • ' 3 Points. secure firmness of flesh, close-fitting skin 

^^^^ • 3 Points, and a soft and fine coat, a small head 

•'^""^P 3 Points. and fineness of bone similar to these 

CONDITIONS. desirable qualities possessed by the high- 

^^^sh 4 Points. type specimens regarded as the fancy 

^^^ 4 Points. class. When the hare industry settles 

QUALITY. to a selection of the general utility bare, 

Fur 3 Points. one adapted to canning, and supplying 

Skin 3 Points. the tables of restaurants, hotels and 

families and for propagation in large 

Total 100 Points. herds, as hogs are grown in some sections 

Official weight at maturity, ii pounds; "^ ^he country, the heavyweight Belgian 

official age at maturity, ii months; will be found the most available type. 

official cut for lack of weight, in mature 

specimen, 1-2 point to the i-4th pound, 

or fraction thereof; and, in immature STILL ANOTHER TYPE, 

specimens 1-2 as heavy a cut, calculating xhe Leporine, already briefly men- 

them to weigh a pound for every month tion in our introduction, is still another 

0* ^Se. type of the product of mating the 

SCALE FOR RATING FAT HARES. rabbit. He is large and coarse in bone, 

(Dressed Carcass.) reaching a weight of from fifteen to 

Best portion of carcass (ham twenty pounds, but he possesses more life, 

and loins) 20 Points. ^^ ^^^^^^ i° ^o^y' ^^^^ ^^^^ t^« typical 

Quality of flesh, size of bone Belgian, has firmer flesh, and has a more 

considered 20 Points. ^^'^y appearance than the squatty. 

Color of flesh and fat 20 Points. Flemish Giant. This type will un- 

Degree of fatness 10 Points. for breeding heavyweights for meat- 
Weight 20 Poirkts doubtedly prove valuable as a foundation 

Manner of dressing and pre- making purposes. Like the Flemish he 

paring for shipment 10 Points. possesses no beauty. Nothing about 

him is attractive. His color is dull, a 

Total 100 Points. ^ig^t drab, and has none of the markings 

either of the standard-bred i^elgian or 

The heavyweight Belgian has been even of the best heavyweights, which 

developed in America by breeders anx- do possess not a little beauty. The 

ious to promote the strictly commercial. Leporine is most abundant in Belgium 

or meat-producing qualities of the Bel- and the south of France, where his 

gian. Some unusually large specimens general utility purposes for the table 

imported from Europe were utilized, and for canning are the chief aim. In 

crossed, fed and managed with this idea some sections of these countries the 

in view. The result has been a hare Leporine furnishes the chief meat supply 

much larger than the standard-bred, of the population, over a ton of meat 

but coarser in bone, quality of fur and a year being sometimes the product of 

of flesh. When slaughtered for food the a single pair and the litters from the 

heavyweight loses a greater proportion earlier breedings. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



11 



THE HARE AS A MARKETABLE 
COMMODITY. 

As an article of diet the hare has 
advantages as yet very slightly under- 
stood in this country. The flavor of the 
meat is delicious, far finer than that 
of the best poultry obtainable in this 
country. All of the flesh is eatable, so 
that there is absolutely no waste after 
the animal has been properly dressed. 
From a dietetic point of view, as will 
be seen more in detail in a later para- 
graph, the flesh of the hare s simply 
invaluable. It lacks the heavy, oily 
substances found in ducks, chickens and 
turkeys. The flesh, therefore, while 
very nourishing, produces no inflam- 
mation and may be taken with relish 
and profit by any invalid. It has none 
of the strong, gamey flavor found in the 
wild rabbit and is therefore acceptable 
to the weakest stomach. 

In the clealiness of its habits the hare 
is far daintier than poultry. The same 
fact is true of its food. Poultry will 
eat almost anything. The hare is fond 
of variety but will not eat meat or 
anything that is gross. It will not suffer 
the slightest stain of earth or other un- 
cleanness to remain upon its fur, but is 
refined in its every habit and instinct. 
The result is that, as long as the hare 
is in a state of health, its flesh is 
necessarily exceedingly wholesome as 
well as toothsome. 

The Belgian kare will dress a pound 
for every month of its age up to six 
or to two or three inferior fowls. Hares 
from about the tenth week of his exist- 
ence. The fifth month is about the 
profitable age to kill if intended for the 
market. He will sell for twenty cents 
per pound, dressed weight, which is the 
regular market price of turkeys. We 
have sold none for less than this price 
and have found the demand far in excess 
of the supply. In some localities the 
ruling price has been thirty-five cents 
per pound. The flesh of the hare is a 
food of which no one ever tires and all 



who have tasted it once acquire a liking 
for it. 

By castrating the young heavyweight 
male hare at ten or twelve weeks of 
age we may produce a heavy animal 
dressing from ten to twelve pounds at 
eight or nine months. These take on 
flesh very rapidly and grow to a large 
size. Large numbers can be kept in a 
single apartment without risks of fights 
among them. The process of castrating 
is therefore an economy in respect to the 
space devoted to rearing. The castrating 
is simple and not more than one per cent, 
may be lost. The quality as well as the 
quantity of the meat is vastly improved 
by castrating. The market price is 
therefore higher. People prefer the cas- 
trated hare just as they prefer a large 
fat capon chicken to one that is smaller, 
or to two or three inferior fowls. Hares 
are very small boned and their weight 
is nearly all flesh, differing again from 
poultry and with the difference in their 
favor. All of the meat is white in color. 
The doe may be spayed the same as 
a sow, and will increase in size and 
quality as well as the buck. But there 
is a higher percentage of loss, perhaps 
two or three, sometimes five in a hun- 
dred. 

Castration means a gain of from 
twenty-five per cent, in time required 
to reach a given weight and nearly an 
equal gain in the saving of the cost of 
feed and also a great improvement in 
the quality of the grain and juiciness 
of the flesh. The castrated stock bring 
one-fourth more per pound. 



WHAT THE HARE WILL PRODUCE. 

No domesticated animal can compare 
in the relative value of its products, as 
compared with cost of food and care, 
with the hare. A small rabbitry to pro- 
vide food and pin money for a family 
may be established on the rear of any 
city lot. From a beginning of five does 
and a buck it is safe to say that three 
hundred hare can be raised per year and 



12 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



the original stock will remain. This 
estimate provides for no increase from 
increase. But the first litters, if allowed 
to increase, would run into the thousands 
within a year. 

Each breediiifj animal, doe or male, 
requires a pen by itself. And this should 
be three feet wide, five feet high and 
from sixteen to twenty-four feet long, 
built according to the plans given later 
in this volume. The space required by 
these should be duplicated in a space 
equally as large and sown to alfalfa. 
This little patch of ground, if cared for, 
irrigated, and fertilized like a lawn, will 
produce more green stuff than the hares 
in the pens can consume, and sufficient 
to store away for hay during those win- 
ter months when the growth of the 
alfalfa is slow. Such a rabbitry, so far 
as the meat question goes, will more 
than make a large family self-sustaining 
on the meat proposition. Surplus hares 
can readily be exchanged at the market 
for roasts of beet or mutton, or for 
poultry, or may be sold for hard cash. 
There is no trouble about the demand. 
The difficulty is to bring the supply up 
to the demanfl where'ver the dainty 
flesh of the hare has become known to 
consumers. 

Meat is constantly increasing in price 
owing to the increased cost of produc- 
tion as the great ranges of the West 
are cut up and utilized for agriculture 
and horticulture. Any small space of 
land may be employed for a rabbitry, 
and old people, children, ladies, piofes- 
sional men, all who have a little leisure 
every day, may enter upon this pleas- 
ant and profitable employment of rear- 
ing hares. The does are readily do- 
mesticated and bear handling. They 
will breed until six or seven years of 
age, although they are not as prolific 
after their fourth year as they are up 
to that period. They are in their prime 
from their eighth month to their fourth 
year. A doe belonging to the writer 
produced in one year eighty healthy 
young ones, all of which were reared 



and eaten or sold. Estimating that 
these were kept to an average of six 
months and an average weight of five 
pounds, this doe produced four hundred 
pounds of choice meat within a single 
year. All this was within twenty 
months of her birth, and, at the end of 
the period, she was alive, healthy, in 
good form and of greater value than at 
the commencement of the breeding. 
Neither poultry nor cows can reach such 
a marvelous record of profitable pro- 
duction, on the same feed and same care, 
as that attained by this unpretentious 
but valuable little animal. 



FECUNDITY OF THE HARE. 

The hare is a species of rabbit; and 
the astonishing fecundity of all members 
of the family is universally understood. 
Everyone has read that, imported into 
Australia, the English wild hare over- 
ran the country and threatened to de- 
stroy every green thing by sheer force 
of numbers. We have all heard of the 
devices for killing them by poison and 
starvation. Yet this was the wild hare 
which only drops two litters a year 
and one pair at each litter. Neverthe- 
less, his powers of reproduction were 
enough to stagger the Australian gov- 
ernment, which offered a .reward of 
twenty-five thousand dollars for any 
certain method of exterminating him. 
Now, the Belgian has from five to six 
litters a year and from eight to fifteen 
at a litter. Had the Belgian been turned 
loose in Australia instead of the wild 
hare, there is no telling what the gov- 
ernment would have been driven to do. 

The following interesting table shows 
the possible increase from a single p.'iir 
of Belgian hares for five years, assum-- 
ing that all lived for whatever period in- 
tervened between their birth and the 
end of the fiv3 years. The calculation 
is based upon a single pair of Belgian 
hares, six months old, to start with, 
allowing each doe of the progeny to 
drop her first litter at six months of 
age, and the litters to average eighty 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



13 



the sexes being equally divided. A 
well-cared-for doe will breed until she 
is four or five years old. The calcula- 
tion ends with the fifth year. So pro- 
lific are these animals that, if permitted, 
a doe will drop a litter every thirty 
days all the year round, but in making 
this calculation they are only credited 
with six litters a year, or half the full 
producing capacity: 

FIRST YEAR. No. Born. Total No. 
September i 8 lo 

November i . 8 i8 

January i . . 8 26 

March i . . . . 40 66 

May I 72 138 

July I 104 243 

SECOND YEAR. 

September i 264 506 

Novembar i 552 1,058 

January i . . 968 2,026 

March i .... 2,024 4,050 

May I 4>232 8,282 

July I 8,104 16,386 

THIRD YEAR. 

September i 16,200 32,586 

November i , 33,128 65,714 

January i .. 65,544 131,258 

March i .... 130,344 261,602 

May I 262,856 524,458 

July I 525,032 1,049,490 

FOURTH YEAR. 



September i 
November i 
January i . 
March i . . . 



1,046,408 
2,097,832 
4,197,960 
8,383,592 



2,095,898 

4,193,730 

8,391,690 

16,775,282 

33,550,202 

67,116,962 



May 1 16,774,920 

July I 33,566,760 

FIFTH YEAR. 

September 1 67,101,128 134,218,090 
November i . 134,200,808 268,418,898 
January i . . 268,467,848 536,886,746 
March i .... 546,872,360 1,083,759,106 

May I 1,073,675,592 2,157,434,698 

July I 2,147,746,994 4,305,181,682 

A brief calculation shows that, allow- 
ing each hare only tow square yards of 
space, it would require for the above 
number 278 square miles. Allowing 
an equal amount of ground for the pur- 
pose of raising hay, grain and roots to 



feed the hares, we have a total of 556 
square miles, a good-sized ranch, almost 
as large as Orange county, Cal. How- 
ever, supposing the hares were only 
worth $1 apiece — the price would prob- 
ably fall off a little with such a large 
stock on the market — the owner of this 
stock could well afford to buy Orange 
county, including all the improvements, 
and then could build the Nicaragua Canal, 
pay off the public debt of the United 
States, build 100 firstclass battleships, 
give $25 to each man, woman and child 
in the United States, and still have left 
a neat little fortune of about $1,000,- 
000,000. 

Now take the product of two does and 
a buck for two years. This would be 
the product of one doe doubled. Thus 
two does and a buck would have pro- 
duced, in two years, 32,769. Doubling 
this we have the product of four does 
and a buck for the same period, amount- 
ing to 65,538. While this result would 
probably never happen in its entirety, 
yet the illustration shows the possibil- 
ities of the industry. 



ANOTHER INTERESTING COMPUTA- 
TION. 

The above table of increase as given 
in the first edition of this manual at- 
tracted so much comment and attention, 
having been extensively printed in other 
publications, that we have thought it 
would be of interest to present the fol- 
lowing estimate of the possible profits 
of the Belgian industry. This estimate 
is along the lines of the table already 
mentioned, and based upon a state of 
affairs approximating the ideal. But 
we believe it to be reasonable and fully 
within the bounds of possibility. 

Without doubt, hare meat may be 
produced, on a small scale, at a cost of 
not more than four cents per pound. 
Hares may be kept in any backyard. 
Not so with cows, hogs, or poultry, to 
an extent that would leave any profit 
to speak of. With the greater net pro- 
fit in hares over any other live stock, 



14 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



the poor man may purchase in abundance 
all of the commodities producetd by 
cow, hog, or poultry. 

When, from the labor of a boy not 
more than twelve years old, an in- 
come of over one thousand dollars a 
years is realised, certainly the possibil- 
ities for a grown person are very flatter- 
ing. It is no exaggeration to say that 
a wide-awake, methodical man may, 
by devoting his entire time to the care 
of hares, make per year from ten to 
twenty thousand dollars from the meat 
for market only. With a well-ap- 
pointed paddock system of rearing, 
water piped and all conveniences, ai 
man can care for one thousand breeding 
does, dress and ship the increase. 

From this herd of one thousand does 
should come fifty thousand hares each 
year. At five pounds each, dressed, 
and at twenty cents per pound, they 
would bring fifty thousand dollars. For 
safety, cut this estimate in half and 
then deduct twenty per cent. more. The 
balance is twenty thousand dollars. The 
expenses will not exceed five thousand 
dollars per year. So we have fifteen 
thousand dollars net profit. 

To many this estimate will seem un- 
reasonably high. So we will reduce 
the price of meat to five cents a pound. 
This basis brings us twelve thousand 
and five hundred dollars. Deducting ex- 
penses, we have a profit of seven thous- 
and and five hundred dollars, for one 
man's yearly labor. 

"Too high, still," some people will 
say. Cut the price of the meat to two 
and a half cents a pound. This still 
leaves us six thousand, two hundred and 
fifty dollars, gross, or a profit of twelve 
hundred and fifty dollars, or over one 
hundred dollars per month the (year 
'round. 

But hold! We have overlooked the 
item of the pelts from these fifty thous- 
and hares which we skin before we mar- 
ket them. At forty cents each we have 
twenty thousand dollars for these. So 
we now have an income of twenty-one 



thousand, two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars, after paying all expenses. The 
pelts can easily be made to bring 
eighty cents each, by dying them black. 
This would bring up our income to 
forty- one thousand, two hundred and 
fifty dollars, per year, for one man's 
labor in caring for a thousand does. We 
shall have to make another cut and call 
the meat only one cent a pound, which 
brings us down to thirty-six thous- 
and, two hundred and fifty dollars. 

Still this will seem too high for some 
conservative people who are easily 
frightened by figures. So we will add 
six thousand dollars to the expense ac- 
count and call the net income thirty 
thousand. But, by employing a few 
men to help do the work, and holding 
the does in the first two litters, each 
year, and allowing these to produce two 
litters each towards the close of the 
year, we can realize two hundred thous- 
and dollars. This is on a basis of ten 
cents per pound for the meat and fifty 
cents each for the pelts — surely not an 
unreasonable basis. 

Cut this income in two, for expenses, 
and we have left a profit of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. This calculation 
is based upon an allowance of six litters 
per year, which is too low. If — but 
there is no use in extending this com- 
putation further. There seems to be 
simply no limit to the possibilities of 
the product from a thousand breeding 
does. Some day, not very far distant, 
some section of this country will see 
a plant which will prove these figures 
and make a fortune for the owner. 

We quote in this connection a para- 
graph that has been making the rounds 
of the press. The writer apparently 
had in mind the common rabbit. But 
what he says applies to the Belgian 
with even greater force. Here is the 
extract : 



RABBIT FARMING. 
Strangers, especially Europeans, are 
often surprised at the wastefulness ex- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



15 



hibited by agriculturists in this coun- 
try, while they are complaining of hard 
times. Take, for instance, the rabbits, 
which are so plentiful in some parts of 
California as to be regarded as a nuis- 
ance, and a bounty offered for their 
scalps. In other parts of the world 
rabbits are made profitable by the can- 
ning of their flesh and the sale of their 
skiRS. An exchange says: 

"Rabbit farming has been begun in 
Kansas, and promises to be profitable. 
It is true that they call the rabbit 
there by the more impressive name of 
'hare,' but he is the same old bunny, 
nevertheless. A Mr. Lamphier is the 
pioneer rabbit farmer, but now nearly 
the whole of Kansas City is in the 
business, and a local statistician de- 
clares that in a short time there will 
be more rabbits in Kansas City alone 
than there are in all the rest of the 
State. The meat packers say there is 
no flesh so well suited for canning 
purposes as that of the rabbit, and that 
when properly put before the public 
it will bring fair prices. The pelts are 
valuable, too — are worth as much as 
25 cents each — and are capable of being 
dressed up so as to look like almost 
any other fur than that of the despised 
rabbit." 



THE RABBITRY. 

We emphatically condemn the prac- 
tice advocated by many authorities of 
building little, cooped-up hutches, set 
up from the ground, for the hare. The 
hare requires not only air and food but 
plenty of exercise and close contact with 
the earth. In a wild state he roams 
the earth and is the most healthy of 
animals. It is his nature to have wide 
room for exercise. Exercise is an anti- 
dote to a surplus of fat and sickness. 
It tends to produce not only the finest 
animals from the standpoint of the fan- 
cier, but the healthiest as well. Any- 
one who stops to think for a moment 
about the habits of the hare, as nature 
intended him to live, will see the force 
of this reasoning and will realize that, 



in his domesticated condition, he should 
be kept as nearly as possible with sur- 
roundings similar to those of his wild 
state. To confine the hares in such small 
apartments is equal to sacrificing fully 
one-half the income that may be de- 
rived from them when managed as we 
recommend. Hares reared in the "box 
hutch" do well if they dress one and 
a half pounds at two and a half months 
of age. By our method of management 
we get three pounds of a far better 
quality of meat at the same age, and a 
mortality loss not to exceed six or eight 
in a hundred of those dropped, while by 
the "box-hutch" method, fully fifteen 
out of a hundred die. Our youngsters 
travel the length of our twenty-four- 
foot pens several times a day when fif- 
teen to twenty days old. They are vig- 
orous, because of the extra freedom and 
exercise enjoyed by their dams from in- 
fancy to the delivery of the young. They 
are a very active animal, and should 
not be deprived of this, the most prom- 
inent feature of their nature. Give them 
exercise on the earth, and less drugs, 
and a smaller graveyard will be needed. 

We give herewith directions and speci- 
fications for constructing two rabbitries, 
the first a smaller affair, for begiimers 
and those who are not decided as to the 
extent to which they will engage in the 
business of rearing Belgians. This rab- 
bitry may be made larger or smaller 
according to circumstances. Our second 
and more elaborate plan is for what we 
consider a model rabbitry, large enough 
for a somewhat extensive business and 
equipped with every convenience. 

The six-pen rabbitry which v/e de- 
scribe here will do very well for a trio, 
two does and a buck, up to the time 
that the second litters are ready to 
wean. By that time the owner will 
probably be enthusiastic enough as a 
fancier to desire to extend his plant, 
and the location should be so planned 
that an extension can be readily made, 
if desired. As regards cost, we may 
say that the figures given are Los An- 



16 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



geles prices, which will vary in other 
localities. In some places the cost will 
be higher; in others it will undoubtedly 
be less. 

Before constructing the pens, a roof 
should be set over the place selected for 
the rabbitry. This roof should be at 
least ten feet from the ground at the 
ridge and seven feet at the eaves. The 
roof at the gables should project three 
feet to protect outside pens. The roof 
should be pitched in two direction^ as a 
single-pitched roof permits the sun to 
come in at least half of the day. The 
roof may be made of shakes or boards. 
A cheap way is to overlap boards laid 
lengthwise on rafters. In this way the 
rafters can be put two or three times 
as far apart as they would need to be if 
shakes were used. Only light stuff, 2x4, 
is required for the rafters. They may 
be placed six feet apart and will hold 
the roof for several years in good shape. 

In each pen at the side of the build- 
ing, that is, six feet from the inner 
door, a wooden door should be placed, 
at least five feet high, for convenience in 
passing through. This door protects the 
hares from draughts and stormy weather 
and should be closed at night excepting 
in very warm weather. Thus the hares 
will have a protected pen six feet 
long. Over this six feet a floor should 
be provided, either permanent or port- 
able. This is especially necessary in 
winter. In place of the wooden door, 
canvas, or even burlaps, may be used. 
This may be raised and fastened at the 
sides in pleasant weather and dropped 
during cool or stormy weather and at 
night. 

On the ground, under the roof, you 
place your hutches, dividing the space 
roofed over the into subdivisions 3 
either by 16 or 24 feet. The pen should 
extend at least 8 feet beyond the roof, 
giving the hare a chance to sun himself 
when he feels like it, as will happen 
often in cool weather, or even mornings 
and evenings in the summer. We like 
the manner of making panels full length 



for the sides of the pen. We use strips 
of Oregon pine, 1x3, and the same ma- 
terial for the ends. These panels should 
be five and a half feet wide, so that, 
when they are set on edge, your pens 
will be five and a half feet 
high. At this height an ordinary-sized 
man can walk under with little stoop- 
ing. Have wire netting, one-inch mesh, 
two feet wide, from the bottom up to a 
strip running lengthwise. Above this 
fill a space three feet wide with two- 
inch mesh wire netting, which completes 
the panel. The panels separating 
the different pens lengthwise 

must be laced with wire net- 
ting to the very top of the partitions. 
Otherwise the hares will, by jumping 
upon a feed box or getting a start in 
some other way, climb over from one 
pen to another, and then there will be 
trouble, for each hare brooks no intru- 
sion upon his privacy. 

Having constructed your panels and 
being ready to place them in position, 
put two-inch wire nettinf upon the 
bottom of each pen and fastcxi securely 
to the edges of the panels. This is to 
prevent burrowing and takes the place 
of the cement floors advocated by the 
constructors of rabbitries in the East, 
yet allows the hare to live on the ground 
which is indispensable to health and 
thrift in the greatest degree. Leave no 
place unfastened (where the hare can 
break through. Cover over the top of 
your panels, when in position, with 
two-inch wire netting to keep out cats 
and dogs. Cats will enter the pens and 
take the young hares, from a day old 
up to five or six weeks. Dogs will kill 
any of them, old or young. The object 
of using one-inch netting for partitions 
and siding is to give sufficient strength 
to guard against cats and dogs and also 
to prevent the young hares from going 
from one pen to another. One doe will 
at once destroy the young of another. 

For extremely warm localities, such 
as the San Joaquin and Sacramento 
valleys, Arizona and the Southern 



THE BONAUZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



17 



States, where the air is dry and the 
temperature high for long periods, the 
following device will be found of great 
benefit, affording the hares a refugfe 
from extreme heat: 

Now take a large-sized cracker box, 
24x14x16 inches. This will make an ex- 
cellent basement, or cellar for the pen, 
when the top of the box is removed, a 
pit dug and the box is turned over into 
the pit. Put a trap door into the box 
after it is sunk level with the surface 
of the pen. Cut a hole in the end of 
the box nearest the end of the pen. 
Make this hole about six inches wide 
and a foot high. Now dig a runway 
into the earth so that the doe can enter 
this box through this opening. There 
she will make her nest and "kindle," 
or bring forth her young. 

In making the pens, the bottom of the 
doors should be hung at least a foot 
from the ground, and it is best to have 
a spring on the doors, so that, when 
you enter the pen the door will close 
after yo" Or, if the latch or fastening 
becomes -josened, the door will still be 
closed. A common spiral screen-door 
spring serves the purpose. The advan- 
tage of having this pit is that there is 



always a little excess of cool air and 
moisture in it during heated terms. Be 
sure to carpet the bottom of this pit 
and also the runway with the two-inch 
mesh wire netting. Otherwise your doe 
will dig out and be lost or come to grief. 
The bucks dig very little, although they 
will help a doe dig if they are in the 
same pen. Cover the bottoms of the 
pens with dirt two or three inches deep, 
so that the hares may dig until they 
reach the wire netting underneath the 
earth. This gives them something to 
do and is no detriment. Your rabbitry 
is now complete. 

After October the runway to this box 
should be covered up and filled with 
earth so that it will be impossible for 
the doe to enter the box. Place another 
box right over it with a floor set up 
three inches from the ground, on legs 
nailed to the corners of box. Make a 
double-pitch roof to box so that she can 
have a perfectly dry place. There will 
then be no risk of the young drowning, 
an accident which might occur in the 
summer cellar. We now have a home 
for our rabbit, which fills the require- 
ments as nearly as is possible in a state 
of captivity. 



Our Complete Plans for Rabbitries* 



Believing that the most effective and 
satisfactory method of conveying in- 
formation is by direct and compact re- 
presentation to the eye, we have had 
five drawings prepared of our designs 
for model and practical rabbitries. We 
present herewith reduced fac-similes of 
these five drawings. Two of these rep- 
resent a perspective view and a ground 
floor plan of a cheaper rabbitry. The 
others are a perspective, a ground floor 
plan, and a sectional view of our model 
rabbitry. A moment's study of these 
plans will show the conveniences and 
utilities which we have embodied in 



these designs. In the plans of the model 
rabbitry the reader will notice the capa- 
cious runs for the hares, the exercise 
and burrowing pens, the inner hutches 
in the alley, the space available for hay 
and grain, the office, workshop, where 
crates and other essentials may be con- 
structed, repairs made, and the general 
effect of completeness in every detail. 
We also illustrate the most practical 
watering devise for a large rabbitry. 
As regards architecture, the style of this 
may be varied to suit the taste and purse 
of the prospective builder, difference in 
climate and location, etc. The cost, 



18 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



19 



of course, would depend largely upon 
the material employed and the finish 
of the building but from these plans 
any contractor can prepare an estimate 
of cost in accordance with the wishes 
oi the prospective owner. There are two 
points which we especially desire to 
emphasize. The first is the convenience 
and economy as a business proposition 
in having so well equipped an establish- 
ment as that called for by our designs. 
Every phase of modem business life 
calls for concentration of energy and 
perfection of equipment and the man 
who goes into the Belgian hare industry 
with the best preparation is the man 
who is most certain to succeed, as in all 
other enterprises. The other point that 
we wish to call attention to is the 
gratification of the owner's taste as a 
fancier in constructing as elaborate a 
building as his means will permit. 

Many of those who are engaging in 
this industry are persons of large capital 
who can do as they please in this regard. 
Here is a new field for the exercise 
of originality and enterprise. The true 
fancier will be gratified by having a 
beautiful home for his pets. A man 
who alv/ays wants the best of every- 
thing may have the best here as easily 
as in constructing a residence or a 
yacht. 

In matters of detail, especially of 
ornamentation, there is room for great 
variety. The business, too, will receive 
a new impetus when commodious and 
substantial rabbitries are constructed 
throughout the land, for people will then 
realize, as never before, that this new 
industry has come to stay. 

We may state that we have had full 
sized blue-print copies taken of these 
designs and will forward to any address 
a full set of both designs for one dollar. 
These are drawn on a scale of 1-4 of 
an inch to the foot and full specifications 
are given, the whole being the product 
of strictly-first class architects. 

Our plan for a model rabbitry, as 



given herewith, is based upon the 
ground-floor, open-air system of man- 
agement, but with a modification of the 
box-hutch method added to provide 
quarters for a large number of hares 
within a given space. If ground-floor 
quarters were to be given each hare, 
all the time a modern rabbitry would 
cover a plot of ground much larger than 
most breeders would care to devote to 
it, and would be correspondingly diffi- 
cult to care for. 

Hares reared in close confinement will, 
for a time while young, make rapid 
growth, adapt themselves to circum- 
stances, as is customary with youth ex- 
hibit a very fair degree of spirit and a 
fair condition of health up to five or six 
months of age. This is true of the 
strongest of the litters; or, in other 
words, survival of the fittest obtains 
under such conditions. Still there will 
be a larger proportion of losses among 
hares when reared under this manage- 
ment than when allowed as much free- 
dom as possible and as many other ad- 
vantages as is consistent with a state 
of captivity. 

The fact that there has been success 
to a certain extent in rearing hares in 
close confinement has led to the almost 
universal practice. Few people keep any 
close account or make a thorough study 
of the advantages of the two methods. 
Consequently they are unable to de- 
termine which is the better, the box 
hutch system or the ground-floor, open- 
air method of management. A close 
account of births and deaths and also 
of feed and labor shows clearly that 
the latter method has an advantage of 
at least 50 per cent, over the former. 

As a matter of convenience a three- 
story high, box-hutch arrangement is 
necessary as a part of a well-appointed 
rabbitry, as will be described hereafter. 
A model rabbitry, will be built in the 
following manner: First, choose a level 
spot upon which to place the building. 
Locate the building facing east and west, 



20 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



21 



so that pens may be run out at both 
sides of the building. The pens facing 
the east will get the sun one-half the 
day and those on the west one-half the 
day. And also so that it will be con- 
venient to get around the outer ends of 
the pens with a wheelbarrow or hand 
cart for the purpose of cleaning and 
furnishing fresh loam to the pens. Make 
your building with a frame forty-eight 
feet long, thirty-two feet wide, with 
posts at least sixteen feet high. A floor 
may be placed over the entire bottom 
if desired but should be at least ten 
feet back from each side, leaving an 
aisle which should be twelve feet wide. 
On either side of this aisle should be a 
row of pens three feet wide with doors 
opening into the aisle. At the side of 
the building, ten feet from this aisle, 
have another door to each pen and make 
these pens not less than twenty-four 
feet long, ten feet within the building 
and fourteen outside. At the 
bottom of the doors at the 
side of the building make a small 
opening suitable for the hare, say 8x14 
inches, or the width of a board 10 or 
12x14 inches. 

Have this door arranged to drop with 
a flap of canvas, ducking, or any cloth 
protection, also with a board. In stormy 
weather, or when heavy winds prevail, 
the door may be closed and the smaller 
opening, if desirable, left so the hares 
can go through underneath the ducking 
and yet prevent a strong current of wind 
from blowing into the inside pen. 

Have the sills of the doors opening 
to the aisle at least one foot from 
the ground. Hang the doors with spring 
hinges. Hares rarely ever jump out of 
a pen constructed in this way while 
the doors are open during feeding or 
other work, but with a door opening 
even with the floor they will run out, 
necessitating much watchfulness and 
care in closing the doors each time one 
enters the pens to water, feed, clean, 
etc., and there is also danger of injury 



to the hares in closing a door. Some- 
times the hare is caught in the door 
by the foot, sometimes by the tail or 
head and often hares are killed especially 
the young ones. 

Make the doors opening into the aisle 
of screen wire, also the space below each 
door from the sill down of screen wire. 
This allows a free circulation of air 
on a level with the head of the hare. 

Now, we have on each side of this 
ailse fourteen pens 3 feet wide, which 
take up 42 feet of our 48- 
foot building. Make one cabinet 
16 feet long, 4 feet wide 
and 6 feet high, outside measurements, 
floor of 1-2 inch stuff at the bottom, 
another one up two feet, and another 
one two feet higher still, or four feet 
from the bottom. Divide the space 
above each floor lengthwise with one- 
inch mesh wire. Now divide each section 
above the floor crosswise twice, making 
three apartments five and one-third feet 
long by two feet wide on each floor, 
or eighteen apartments of this size in 
a cabinet. Use dressed lumber, seven- 
eights inch, dressed one side and edge 
for the frame, making the corners of 
three and four inch strips. 

Make the stringers running length- 
wise and those crosswise and those on 
the outside of the frame four inches 
wide. On the top of the outer edge 
nail for a plate a strip to strenghten 
to the edge of the upright stringer run- 
ning lengthwise and crosswise. On the 
bottom use a 1x3 hard wood of some 
sort for a shoe, rough stuff, champered 
at the ends. This is to serve as shoe 
in moving this cabinet, to admit of 
placing a roller under it easily and to 
stiffen the frame. Sliding doors should 
be full length of each apartment, that is, 
made so as to run open full length of each 
apartment. Use one-inch mesh wire 
on the sides, tops and ends of partitions 
and in doors all the way through, double 
selvedge wire is best as it may be 
stretched so taut as to fairly ring. This 



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THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



2S 



strengthens the whole structure, doors 
as well, and makes them very durable. 

Now make one more cabinet of the 
same dimensions in every respect save 
that it is fourteen feet long. Place 
this cabinet in aisle next to the stairs 
and lengthwise of the aisle. This 
allows an aisle each side of the cabinet 
four feet wide. The 1 6-foot cabinet 
is to be placed at the end of the aisle, 
furtherest from the stairs al- 
lowing a passage way between, 
from aisle to aisle on either 
side of the cabinet. The cabinets may 
be spaced off into small apartments by 
having a portable cross frame of wire 
made to hook in and be easily removed. 
Divide space on each floor into two or 
three sections the same as with the 
i6-foot cabinet, as may be desired. It 
is a good plan to have some long runs 
in these hutches for breeding bucks or 
young animals being fitted for exhibition 
purposes. This cage allows a 14-foot 
run and in it may he placed one cross- 
panel a foot high, compelling the hare 
to jump it as he goes from end to end 
of the run and this, bucks and young 
animals will do for the mere fun and 
scores of times each day. This gives 
them exercise and helps to develop the 
long, light, racy form, gives good ap- 
petite, promotes growth and a vigorous 
condition, imparts to their coats a rich 
color from skin outward and gives luster 
to the surface of the coat. 

This 14-foot cabinet, used for 
this purpose, would be better to have 
only two floors in it and the height be- 
tween each floor three feet. Then a 
2-foot high panel might be placed 
in the hutch which will give the hares 
a greater leap and serve for the purpose 
of training for exhibition. This in- 
door arrangement for fitting for exhib- 
ition purposes is necessary for a short 
time just before the exhibition, say 
fifteen to thirty days, the chief ad- 
vantages being that the hares will, if 



allowed their ground-floor pens where 
they have been raised up to say five 
to six months of age, often become lazy 
and indolent and lie out in the sun a 
great deal even when it is pretty warm, 
in fall, winter and spring days and the 
sun will bleach the ends of the hairs of 
the coat. 

Take a hare from his regular home, 
place him in another apartment side by 
side with a wire partition between him 
and another hare, who has equal ad- 
vantages to travel full length of the 
apartment, and the two will chase up 
and down the run and travel miles and 
miles each day, something that we wish 
to encourage. In this way, and by 
grooming daily, and many times a day, 
we bring the hare to a condition of flesh 
that is hard like a race horse, the con- 
dition required by the Standard of Ex- 
cellence. 

In the construction of any and all of 
these cabinets, it will be found very 
convenient to have portable cross panels 
to divide the apartments. These cross 
panels may be made of heavy wire 
about the size of a slate pencil, or per- 
haps 3-i6ths iron, this made into a 
frame and the one-inch mesh wire 
stretched over the sides and ends, allow- 
ing about one inch play at the top and 
at both ends which will admit of its 
being placed and removed very readily. 
It should also be provided with two or 
three hooks on each end to allow of its 
fastening. With this you can divide up 
your space as occasion requires, allow- 
ing them full length of pen or making 
the space only 2 1-2 feet, confining the 
hare in this room for a few days at a 
time when crowded for room, which will 
do no harm. 

To reduce all labor to a minimum, 
use a pipe for watering, 1-2, or 3-4, or 
a full inch, lay this on the floor of the 
pens next to the doors opening into the 
aisle and let each pen have a stand pipe 
with a funnel-shaped bowl at the top, 
about eight inches from the floor, this 
little funnel to hold about one pint, and 



24 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 




•3dmiw^ Aannv 




THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



25 



the stand pipe to be attached to the 
main pipe with T's. This should be on 
a level. The main pipe should be on a 
level. Now, with a hydrant at one end 
of the rabbitry, connecting with both 
rows or ground-floor pens, the 32 pens 
may be furnished with water by turn- 
ing one faucet, the water rising in these 
funnel-shaped cups at the top of the 
stand pipes. A small stream of water 
may be allowed to run all the time, an 
overflow pipe being attached to the fun- 
nel-shaped cup at the fartherest end to 
carry off the overflow if, perchance, the 
supply should become too great, thus 
avoiding the wetting of the pens and 
consequent dampness, a condition al- 
ways to be guarded against. 

Earthen and large open water vessels 
afford an opportunity to the young hares 
to fall and drown, or, if not drown, to 
take cold, which often results in either 
death or a deformed condition. An- 
other objection is that the wind blows 
dust and dirt into these open vessels, 
and the hares in the pens kick the filth 
into the water and it becomes contami- 
nated and, if used, produces serious re- 
sults to the health of the hares. Noth- 
ing is as important as absolutely fresh 
and clean water. 

Eight feet from the ground, place an- 
other floor in this building, running a 
flight of stairs up at the 
end of alley nearest to the office 
Provide the ends of this building on a 
level with this floor, with large doors 
to admit of the entrance of hay and 
straw. Make this floor of matched stuff 
and sufficiently strong to hold large 
quantities of loose hay. 

Place eave troughs on the building. 
Make sliding doors of boards at both 
ends of the ground floor, also inside 
doors of wire to close up in extremely 
hot weather, or at times when you wish 
to throw the board doors wide open, 
these wire doors preventing stray dogs 
from entering the rabbitry during ab- 
sence of manager. The entire end of the 
lower floor of the building should be so 



constructed as to enable one to throw 
it wide open during hot weather, allow- 
ing free admittance of air to the build- 
ing excepting when heavy winds pre- 
vail. 

A rabbitry of this size contains 
sixty-two pens; thirty- two cabinet pens 
and thirty ground floor pens. This 
will furnish plenty of space for twenty 
breeding does and the increase, al- 
lowing three stud bucks to the herd. The 
average number of hares that this rab- 
bitry is likely to contain with these 
breeding does will be two hundred and 
fifty head. This number of hares will 
require all the air that will circulate 
through a building of this size and it 
should be allowed them except, as stated 
above, when high winds and fog pre- 
vail. 

An automatic chute might be 
arranged and connected with grain 
bins above, the grain room one 
that could be shut off at 
will and is full as long as there is a 
supply of grain above. One of these 
should be provided for oats and one for 
bran, for we may say there is no food 
as good for the hare as light-weight 
bran and oats. In the grain room 
there should be placed some sort of a 
cooking apparatus such as will permit 
the preparation of hot mashes and of 
hot waten This room will 

be six by eight feet, for 
this purpose. This room will also be of 
greatest value in treating hares that 
take cold or have any similar disease. 
Placing them in this room and raising 
the temperature until they are thor- 
oughly warm — as described more fully 
in our chapter on diseases — is often the 
only way to presei"ve their lives. Such 
an apartment as this, to be used as a 
nursery and a sanitarium, is as es- 
sential to a well-equipped rabbitry as 
the pens. It may frequently save the 
life of a hundred-dollar hare. 

In preparing this apartment, due care 
will be taken, of course, to guard against 
fire by having the chimney well ce- 



26 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



27 



mented and protected by galvanized 
iron. Full arrangements should be made 
for ventilating this room. 

In dividing off your rabbitry into pens 
you may either make the partitions 
solid or construct panels which may af- 
terwards be put in place. If made solid, 
the upper edges of the wire netting will 
be attached to the upper floor and the 
lower edges to the lower floor. The 
portions outside should be made of pan- 
els, as these are more portable and it 
will undoubtedly be necessary, once in 
two or three years, to take up the wire 
netting which carpets the pens, and to 
stir up the soil, removing three or four 
inches deep from the surface and replac- 
ing this with fresh earth. The contin- 
uous use of the same soil for so long a 
time will inevitably, sooner or later, 
cause sickness among the stock through 
poisoning the earth, unless it is renewed 
occasionally. The same thing is true of 
fowls, hogs, sheep and cattle when they 
are kept in close confinement. 

The inner portion of the pens, that 
which is floored, should be covered with 
a coat of heavy tar or roofing paper to 
prevent the floors from becoming satu- 
rated with the secretions. The same 
should be used in the box hutches and 
should be renewed occasionally. Fresh 
loam should be used on the floors of the 
ground-floor pens inside and often out- 
side. A good sprinkling of fresh loam 
sweetens the air. Dust boxes about 
twelve by sixteen inches in area and 
three or four inches in depth, with an 
inch or two of loam, which is preferable 
to sand, will be used by the hares, if 
placed in the pens and they are readily 
cleaned. In the cabinet hutches the 
hares will lie on this earth a good share 
of the time, even when it has become 
filthy to a degree, showing their fond- 
ness for getting close to the earth. These 
boxes can very easily be emptied of 
their contents, after they have become 
foul, by dumping them into a hand car. 
The man attending them can manage 
two cars at the same time, one to carry 



off the foul earth and one to bring fresh 
loam to take its place. This process 
can be repeated as often as is necessary, 
perhaps twice a week. This keeps the 
rabbitry in a sanitary condition and re- 
duces labor to a minimum. 

The partitions between the pens 
should be made of one-inch mesh wire 
for two feet above the floor, above that 
of two-inch mesh wire. Having allowed 
eight feet between the ground floor and 
the floor of the second story, we shall 
find it cheaper to put the wire in solid 
rather than to make panels. If panels 
are desired, the frames should be made 
of 1x3 Oregon pine. 

A desirable feature of the rabbitry, 
where practicable, would be an open 
space in the second floor above the tier 
of cabinet hutches for ventilation, es- 
pecially in hot weather. This arrange- 
ment would leave floor-space in the 
second story ten feet wide from the 
plates towards the center of the 
building on each side, and an open 
space twelve feet wide over the cabinet 
hutches. 

To strengthen the wires and panels 
outside of the building, it is a good plan 
to run strands of heavy wire, such as 
is used for baling hay, four inches apart, 
from the ground up for about three feet 
high. Draw these tight and fasten them 
with heavy staples; the sort used for 
barbed wire is the best. Place these at 
intervals of about eight or ten feet. 
Dogs attacking the pens will invariably 
meet with defeat when these precautions 
are used. They grab at the wire which 
lacerates their jaws, starts them to 
bleeding and disconcerts them. All 
the pens should be covered overhead, 
with two-inch mesh wire netting to keep 
out cats which, if not prevented, will 
kill the young hares. The does do not 
pay much attention to the young after 
they are three or four weeks old and 
cannot be depended upon to drive away 
cats, even if they were able to over- 
come them. 

The bottoms of the outside pens should 



SQUARE 


WIRE 




FEET. 


MESH. 




924 


i-in. 


2 ft. wi( 


1386 


2- " 


3 " " 


560 


I- " 


2 " " 


840 


2- " 


3" " 


84 


I- " 


I " " 


700 


I- " 


2k" " 


II76 


2- " 


" " 


II76 


2- " 


" " 


504 


2- " 


6 " " 


96 


I- " 




96 


I- " 





28 THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 

BILL FOR WIRE FOR MODEL RABBITRY. 



2 ft. wide wire netting, for Panels of Outside Runs. 

" " Outside Runs. 
Partitions of Inside Runs. 
Partitions of Inside Runs. 
Under doors enter'g Inside Runs from Alley 
Outside and Inside End Doors to Runs. 
Carpeting entire surface of Outside Runs. 
Covering tops of Panels to Outside Runs. 
Fences of Outside Alle3^ 
Gates to Outside Alley. 
Gates to double doors at ends of Inside Alley 

BILL FOR LUMBER FOR MODEL RABBITRY. 

FEET. 
28 Pieces 3x3x16 for Outside Studding ... 336 

378 
396 
90 
252 
168 
192 
280 
1050 
no 
516 

IICj 

40 
25 

270 
1200 
I4M 

2. 
" " 2 — 3x6. 

1 For Panels, 1 - - 360 

120 Pieces 1x3x14 I . I 

Cross Pieces to Panels, - - 135 

45 " 1x3x12 ! 

f Door Frames, r - - 



28 " 


3x3x20 " Inside Studding supporting purloin, 


33 " 


3x3x16 " End Studding, 




- 


15 " 


2x3x12 " Gable Studding, 


- 


12 " 


3x6x14 " Underpinning Sills, 


- 


24 " 


2x3x14 " Plates, 




- 


6 " 


2x6x32 " Middle Joists, 


- 


- 


28 " 


2x6x10 " Joists 


- 


- 


T. & G. Flooring, 


- 


- 


5 Pieces 2x4x32 for Sealing Joists-, 




- 


34 " 


2x4x22 " Rafters, 


- 


- 


10 " 


1x6x22 1 


1 


_ 


10 " 

5 " 
30 " 


^ Q 1 Collar Beam 
1x6x8 

J> Braces and 

'^^^'^ 1 Bridging. 
1x6x18 j 


1 

1 

1 

J 


- 


Sheeting, 


1x4 


- 


- 


Shingles, 


- 


- 


- 


Windows, 


Skylights, 2 — 8x32. 







254 

I Panels for Outside, | 

9 " 1x3x12 



70 1x3x24 

Panels for Outside, - - 90 



J Alley Fences, J - - 90 

3 Lap Rustic - - . . _ 2900 

4 Fluted Corners. 
20 Windows. 

4 Sliding Doors with Frames. 

2 Inside Eastlake Doors with Frames. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



29 



be covered with two-inch mesh wire net- 
ting. Take strips either four or six feet in 
width, and a two foot width 
lay them down upon the ground 
side by side. Place a strip of 
timber across each end and fasten the 
strips together with one long strand of 
wire, weaving it in and out, bringing 
the selvedge ends of the wire together, 
taking stitches at intervals of from six 
inches to a foot. Cover this flooring 
over with about an inch of dirt. The 
outer edge of the wire netting should 
be brought up to the stringer of the 
panel in end pens and fastened with 
staples leaving no opening through 
which the young hares can elope. They 
will slip out through one that is sur- 
prisingly small. 

The pen of each breeding doe must 
be furnished with a nest-box. A good 
box for this use is an ordinary, thirty- 
pound cracker box. If the pen is floored 
the box will not need to have a bottom; 
otherwise it is better to leave the bot- 
tom of the box. Attach hinges to the 
cover so that this may readily be lifted 
in order that the litters may be exam- 
ined. On the bottom of the box divide 
off a space about twelve by eighteen 
inches by a partition three inches high. 
This will confine the nest which the 
doe makes and will keep the young 
from falling out. 

This rabbitry is intended for twenty 
breeding does and three bucks. This 
will permit the holding of the first lit- 
ters until they are old enough to breed 
and also of separating the bucks at 
three months of age, giving each buck 
a separate apartment by using the cab- 
inet hutches, allowing each buck to re- 
main in one of these for a week or ten 
days, allowing exercise every two or 
three days, then giving him a few days 
outside and continuing a change about 
in rotation until the rabbits are sold. 

The hutches and pens should all be 
supplied with automatic grain feeders 
and hay racks, in addition to the nest 



boxes and the arrangements for water- 
ing already described. Then the rab- 
bitry is fully equipped for the reception 
of its foundation stock. The hay rack 
which we use is made of heavy wire and 
is so constructed that the rabbit's head 
cannot be caught in the wires. In some 
forms of hay racks used, the hare is 
likely to hang himself or to get his ears 
torn. The automatic grain feeder is 
constructed as follows: It is a botx 
having a diagonal slant on one side 
made of tin or iron. This goes down 
within an inch of the bottom, with a 
half-inch space between the back of the 
box and the slide at the bottom of the 
inside. The grain falls through this to 
the bottom of the box, and, as fast as 
the supply is eaten away, more will 
follow. This may be adjusted to supply 
more or less as desired. The feeder 
should be about sixteen inches long and 
ten inches high. The base should be 
fooir inches wide, all made of galvan- 
ized iron. The width at the top, be- 
tween the slide and the back, should be 
about four inches. Have a hinged cover, 
or lid, across the top. Such a box will 
hold enough mixed bran and oats to 
last a doe and her litter from three to 
six days, according to the age of the 
young. We make it a rule to fill ours 
Mondays and Thursdays of each week, 
but look to the supply daily. If the 
stand-pipe and funnel-cup system of 
supplying water cannot be employed, a 
quart water fountain is the proper size. 
It should be set upon a shelf about a 
foot high. When a young litter begins 
to run about, the height of the drinking 
cup should be so arranged that they can- 
not get any water until five or six weeks 
old. Until that time they will get suf- 
ficient liquid from nursing. Like some 
"humans,'' if allowed to drink, they will 
drink too much. Cold water, or any cold 
liquid, disturbs their circulation, which, 
in turn, retards digestion, causing a 
fermentation of food. Colic, slobbers 
or some other intestinal derangement is 
the final result. 



30 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



BREEDING AND REARING. 

Having built a rabbitry we start in 
with a herd as a foundation in proportion 
with the limits of our purse and of the 
business that we hope to establish. For 
a small rabbitry four does and one buck 
will do very well. If desired the four 
does could be increased to twenty-five 
and the one buck would answer equally 
well as with the four, but most breeders 
prefer different strains of blood and a 
good proportion is one buck to six or 
eight does. In all cases the bucks should 
not be akin to the does. The does 
will take the buck at five months of age 
and it is well to breed them then before 
they become too fat. The best speci- 
mens are obtained from mating young 
does with bucks that are fully matured. 

The bucks should be the best obtain- 
able. He should be allowed a long pen, 
one twenty-four feet in length is about 
right, so that he may have plenty of 
room for exercise. Two bucks should 
not be placed in adjoining pens, because 
under such circumstances both will be 
constantly in a state of frenzy and will 
become weakened and perhaps impotent. 

When breeding is intended place the 
doe in the same pen with the buck. 
Never take the buck to the pen with the 
doe. Never lift the doe by the ears. 
Harm is certain to follow this practice. 
Always get her into a corner of the pen 
with her head turned towards you. Place 
one hand under her haunches and lift 
her up permitting her head to rest upon 
the other arm or under the arm. If 
the head is hidden hares usually will 
not struggle. As soon as they become 
accustomed to this method of lifting 
them and learn that it will not hurt 
them they become very tractable. As 
an aid to the lifting the free hand may 
grasp a handful of fur and skin over 
the shoulders, but it is best not to lift 
them entirely by the skin because, if 
they struggle, the skin may be torn un- 
derneath resulting in clotted blood which 
may ruin the animal. Sometimes hares 



that are not accustomed to being handled 
will strike with their hind feet with 
great force, often cutting the flesh of the 
person attempting to hold them, to the 
bone. When does are in season the 
service will be satisfactorily accom- 
plish in two covers. Never permit more. 
The doe should be watched for about 
five minutes after she is placed in the 
with the buck and if she refuses she 
should be at once returned to her pen. 
A trial should be made every three days. 
Occasionally, although rarely, a doe will 
miss. Do not allow a doe and a buck 
to remain together all day. One or the 
other will be worried and thereby in- 
jured. The does will kindle in thirty 
days from the time of service. There 
are recorded, instances where they went 
over time one or two days. Occasionally 
a doe vnll be found which will drop 
only five or six young, but this is no 
disadvantage because these will usually 
make up in size and weight what they 
lack in numbers. But probably ninety 
per cent, of the does drop from eight 
to twelve at a litter. It is safe to count 
upon eight as an average. This is 
especially true when the does are allowed 
only six litters a year, which number has 
been found to be the most profitable, 
everything considered. It is a fact, how- 
ever, that the doe will take service in 
one hour after having kindled and will 
kindle again in thirty days. 

The young will begin to eat hay and 
grain at about two weeks of age, when 
they should have a tray at least a foot 
square with one-inch sides, and a con- 
stant supply of bran and oats. When 
five weeks old they will be large enough 
to get their grain from the doe's auto- 
matic grain feeder, when the tray should 
be removed. Occasionally a doe will be 
found that will drop from twelve to 
fifteen young every litter. In such cases 
it is necessary to have a nurse doe to 
assist in raising the litter. Never 
allow more than ten to be reared at 
most. Occasionally a barren doe is 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



31 



found; but not more than one in a 
hundred, either of does or bucks, is likely 
to prove barren. Before rejecting an 
apparently barren doe, try her to dif- 
ferent bucks, and allow three services 
each heat. Test her from three to five 
days in succession. Follow this course 
for a couple of months, and if she still 
fails to breed, make meat of her at once. 
Do not sell her to some amateur to start 
a herd with, or to some inexperienced 
and unsuspecting person. Keep a care- 
ful record of your stock, and so avoid 
losses of this sort. 

Good care of the buck, and unusually 
dainty dishes are well repaid for in the 
number and vigor of his offspring. The 
tuck is really one-half of the herd. He 
should be handled little, except upon the 
ground. He makes vigorous objections 
to having his ears pulled, and often does 
himself injury in his struggles to free 
himself from the hands of a captor. 
When he must be handled, keep him off 
from the ground the shortest possible 
time; but he will submit to petting 
as readily as a doe, if he is not pulled 
about or squeezed or bunched in the arms. 
Place him in your lap or upon a small 
table, and he will permit himself to 
he stroked. The does are also tractable 
in this respect. Never strike a hare, 
even if he scratches your hands with 
his hind feet when being handled. 

About a week before the time for 
A doe to bring forth a litter, see that she 
is plentifully supplied with dry straw 
or hay. With this she will build a 
nest for the expected brood. This she 
will line with her hair plucked from her 
own breast, making a soft and warm 
receptacle for the tender nurslings. Do 
not attempt to make the nest for the doe. 
She would not be satisfied v/ith yoi:r 
workmanship, but wants a nest of a 
peculiar inverted-cone shape in which 
she covers up the young every morning 
for the day. When born, the young are 
hairless and their eyes are closed. They 
open their eyes in about a week. At about 



the twentieth day they will leave the 
nest and eat little pieces of bran that 
may be placed on a tray near the box. 
They will soon nibble choice morsels 
of hay. 

We are not in favor of the common 
practice of testing does after they have 
been bred as we have known many in- 
stances where serious harm has re- 
sulted. In some cases that we know of, 
does took the buck a secoiid time after 
being served and littered two different 
lots of young at two different times. 
In each instance either the doe or the 
litter, or both, died. The chances are 
all in favor that the doe is satisfactorily 
bred if she submits to the buck at all, 
a point that can be very easily de- 
termined by observation. The hare is 
such a fertile ariimal that there is very 
little probability that a doe will miss. 
If, however, fifteen days have elapsed 
from the date of service and the owner 
is very doubtful upon this point the 
doe may be tested by placing her again 
in the pen of the buck. If she avoids 
him, runs about the pen and, especially, 
if she utters plaintive little cries, or 
whinnyings, you may be certain that 
she is bred. You should remove her at 
once and should not repeat the testing 
process. For ourselves, we would rather 
run the risk of a doe going over a month 
or two without a litter than the risk 
of serious injury to her from testing. 

As already stated we prefer to breed does 
when about five months of age to prevent 
their becoming too' fat, as is often the 
case when they are held from the buck 
until they are six or seven months old. 
When too fat they are likely to suffer 
from fever at the time of kindling, to 
have caked udders, to take cold and often 
to die. 

Young bucks may be permitted a doe 
once in five or six days for two months, 
after the buck is five months of age. 
But it is better to keep him from breed- 
ing until he is seven months old as he 
will develop faster and will be in every 
way a more hardy and vigorous animal. 



32 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



After the first two months of breeding 
allow him two does a week for another 
month, then three a week for a month or 
two. Then give him a complete rest for 
a month or two. These rules apply es- 
pecially to high-class stock. If you have 
a cheap buck you need not be quite so 
particular about him. 

The young bucks must be carefully 
watched as they develop, especially if 
several are kept in a pen together. Of- 
ten one OT two bucks in a herd of fifteen 
or twenty will develop faster than the 
others and will castrate nearly all the 
rest of the lot. Sometimes this opera- 
tion will be performed so neatly that 
the victim does not suffer much incon- 
venience and may be permitted to grow 
until he is worth something for meat. 
At other times the operation, so sum- 
marily performed, is not very success- 
ful and the victim dies. The only cer- 
tain way of preventing these unfor- 
tunate occurrences is to separate the 
bucks at ten, or at most, twelve weeks 
of age, giving each a separate pen. 

A high-type buck can get as many as 
a thousand of his progeny within a pe- 
riod of a year. Say that you commence 
to use him at his fifth or sixth month 
and breed him twice a week, allowing 
the average of ten to the resulting lit- 
ters. The buck may be given a few 
extra breedings to make up for losses 
and disappointments. Allow him three 
years for service and call his get that 
survive two thousand. One half of these 
will be does. These does will produce 
an average of fifty per year, each, after 
arriving at maturity. Thus the thous- 
and does will produce fifty thousand 
young the second year. Certainly this 
is a cause for alarm to the calamity 
howlers of our country and the best 
possible argument for expansion. 

Never breed a buck intended for ex- 
hibition purposes until after he has made 
his record upon the exhibition tables. 
Breeding almost invariably thickens the 
jaw, dims the lustei of the coat and 
detracts from the rating of the buck 



anywhere from half a point to three 
points. 



MANAGEMENT AND CARE IN 
GENERAL. 

Hares should have at all times an 
abundance of food, water and air and 
an opportunity for exercise. We have 
devised a permanent hay rack and a 
permanent self-feeding grain box, which 
work like a charm. The fresh water 
should be renewed twice a day, in the 
summer. In the winter fresh water 
once a day is sufficient, but the supply 
should be constantly accessible. The 
idea formerly advanced by rabbit fan- 
ciers that water should be given spar- 
ingly, if at all, is utterly absurd, as 
well as cruel and inhumane. If green 
xlfalfa,i .or grassj, olr other succulent 
food, such as carrots, is fed daily, hares 
will require little water, but neverthe- 
less water should always be kept before 
them after they are four months of age. 

The hare can endure cold much bet- 
ter than extreme heat, but, if shade is 
provided, the warmest summer days will 
not be sufficiently hot for injury. The 
only conditions necessary to secure, and 
these are very easily obtained, are 
shade for summer and protection from 
storms. We have lost a few hares from 
the excessive heat of extremely hot 
days, but such loss was always owing 
to our neglect to provide sufficient 
water and shade, following the rules of 
alleged authorities, or when in the hurry 
of moving, or something of that sort. 
These that we speak of were full-grown 
animals, and were over-fat. We had 
not then fully realized the bad effects 
of a very hot sun. The hare must have 
access to a perfectly dry place for pro- 
tection from storms. He should have 
a space protected by a roof at least 
eight feet wide, built lengthwise of the 
pens. This roof should be up from the 
ground, giving plenty of space over- 
head for ventilation. 

Hares relish hot water and will sip 
it at a temperature about as hot as 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



33 



can be borne on the hand when the water 
is turned into the vessel from which the 
hare is to drink. This hot water should 
be offered to the doe after kindling and 
her youngsters when the litter is about 
two weeks of age. This is the time 
when the youngsters commence to eat 
bran and straw or hay. Since the doe 
nurses her young only in the night, they 
need some liquid with their breakfast 
of bran or hay, which they usually re- 
ceive about six ox seven o'clock in the 
morning, also at noon and towards 
night, when they are given their last 
meal. 

Better than the hot water is hot milk 
or a gruel prepared by turning boiling 
water upon bran or by boiling bran and 
rolled oats in water for from five to ten 
minutes, then straining, leaving only 
the liquid gruel which should be about 
the consistency of a heavy soup, so that 
the hares can lap it. When preparing 
milk do not permit it to boil but give 
it hot without boiling. 

Hares should always be protected from 
draughts when confined in quarters too 
narrow for exercise. Strong currents of 
. air bring colds. Young hares, three 
months and younger, crowd together in 
confinement, apparently desiring to 
screen themselves from the light. In 
this way, those in the middle of the pile 
become overheated. Their systems are 
weakened and they are rendered liable 
to take cold readily. The wild rabbit 
is often seen sitting on a rock or log 
on a still, cold day, but when the wind 
blows you will always find him either 
by the side of a log to shelter himself 
from the wind, or in a brush pile. But 
you will always find him with his head 
out to secure the fresh air. His heart 
beats with the astonishing rapidity of 
one hundred and eighty beats per min- 
ute, and his respiration is more than 
twice as rapid as it is in man. 

The twigs of the black willow tree, 
found in some localities, is an article 
of diet greatly relished by either wild 
or tame rabbits. They should be fur- 



nished occasionally, when procurable, 
not as an article of food or medicine, 
but on the general principle that, these 
being something eaten by the hare in his 
wild state, they are adapted to him and 
tend to keep him in health. The nearer 
we can bring all the conditions surround- 
ing the hare to a state of nature, the 
better we shall succeed with him. The 
willow twigs may be gathered, tied in- 
to bundles and dried. In the dry state 
they will furnish those vegetable ele- 
ments necessary to counteract the ill 
conditions to which hares are liable when 
deprived of the roots, barks, berries and 
shrubs that they would obtain in a wild 
state. 

Burnt willow charcoal, or, in the ab- 
sence of that, any kind of charcoal, pul- 
verized, and mixed with the grain once 
or twice a week should be fed, espe- 
cially where grain is fed largely, as with 
a doe and the buck that are being bred 
frequently. Roots and the tops of the 
wild dandelion, docks, mints, and many 
wild shrubs and herbs are beneficial to 
the hare. One may experiment in these 
directions, commencing gradually and 
proceeding with caution and should en- 
deavor to determine the varieties of 
wild growth common in his locality that 
will assist in promoting health and 
longevity in these pets of ours. Unques- 
tionably, the hare in his wild state eats 
of these various growths at certain sea- 
sons of the year, and finds in them an 
antidote to certain diseases that some- 
times become epidemic. During March 
and April in the East, and during other 
months in different portions of the 
country, there is a transition between 
winter and summer weather. It is dur- 
ing this transition, and similar changes 
at other portions of the year, that there 
is most sickness both among men and 
animals. Nature teaches the hare to 
partake of certain food elements at 
these periods which assist him in avoid- 
ing and in recovering from these attacks. 
Instinct is the best teacher and, as we, 
of course, lack that instinct, we cannot 



34 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 











iJPQdiM 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



35 



provide for the hare in this respect, just 
as he would provide for himself. But 
we ought to make an intelligent study 
of the subject and to assist him as much 
as possible. 



CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE 
DOE. 

We are not likely to give too much 
attention to the care and management 
of the doe, especially during her breed- 
ing periods. Prolific as she is she will 
deteriorate and suffer unless she has the 
very best of care. We should 
constantly bear in mind that 
her way of life, in captivity, 
is necessarily artificial as compared with 
the wild state. For this reason she 
needs constant attention and intelligent 
management. The best results can be 
secured only by experience and attentive 
observation. 

If the doe must be kept in small 
quarters she should be allowed an ap- 
proach to mother earth during the period 
of gestation and an opportunity to bur- 
row in the ground. It is well enough 
to let her dig a hole and make a nest, 
being kept in the burrowing pen until 
a week or even five days before her time 
of kindling. Then place her in a pen 
next by, supplied with nest box and 
straw and she will prepare a new nest 
in which she will kindle. This digging 
and burrowing is the best possible treat- 
ment to bring her into condition for 
kindling. She will become strong, will 
have a healthy appetite, will deliver bet- 
ter, will be much less liable to contract 
a cold at the time of delivery and will 
milk much more freely than she could 
milk without this preparatory condition- 
ing. As a result the young will be much 
hardier and more active. A good plan 
is to fit up one pen with a pile of loam 
say five or six bushels, and to turn a 
doe into this pen for two or three weeks 
before littering time and let her dig and 
work. 

Great care must be taken to prevent 
the doe from contracting cold the day 
she kindles. Do not allow her to have 



cold water for two days at this time. 
Give hot water instead. Do not feed 
any grain for four days after littering 
and no succulent foods except a small 
amount of carrots. Examine the nest 
within a dew hours after the doe has 
littered. Some authorities forbid this, 
but the modern, high-type hare is not 
as touchy as the old-time types used to 
be. They have been petted and handled 
until a willingness for petting and hand- 
ling has been bred into them. It is rare 
that a hare of either sex will make vio- 
lent efforts to free itself when taken in 
hand if it is not handled roughly. 

I like to remove all but five or six of 
each litter to nurse does. They will then 
get abundance of milk and will grow 
strong and vigorous. In order to make 
sure of capacity in nurse does I breed 
two nurse does for each thoroughbred 
Belgian doe. One may fail. If both 
kindle, so much the better. With a lit- 
ter of twelve, I then divide them evenly, 
giving four to each nurse doe and leav- 
ing four with the mother. This plan re- 
sults in grand youngsters. 

I prefer a high-grade nurse doe, if 
possible a half-bred Belgian or any 
cheap Belgian, to any common rabbit. 
A pure-bred Belgian is much better than 
a mongrel. Angoras are usually very 
productive of fleas, while the shroter- 
haired Belgian is troubled but very little, 
if any. There is no variety of rabbit 
equal to the Belgian as a mother or 
breeder. Do not rush a brood doe the 
year round. Better always allow a rest 
from breeding during the months of July, 
August and September, or for sixty days 
at this period, at least. Bucks should 
also have their dormant season during 
summer. 

Handle the does and bucks by hand. 
The transfer-box is unnecessary with 
high-type hares. Do not feed barley, 
corn or wheat to milking does. These 
grains are too fattening to be used at 
that period. In general and always oats 
and lightweight bran are the best grain 
foods. It is best, after a doe has had 



36 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



one litter, to feed her no grain until 
she is about half gone with another 
litter. Then she may have bran and a 
little oats regularly until she kindles. 
Then withhold the grain for three days. 
Then commence to feed her bran and 
hav, gradually adding oats until, ten 
or twelve days after littering, she should 
have all the grain she needs before her 
at all times during the period of nurs- 
ing. 

Imported does are very frequently 
barren. In fact, we doubt whether any 
importer has received satifactory returns 
from imported does and we know of 
numbers, including ourselves, who have 
been greatly disappointed in this re- 
gard. There is something in the changes 
of climate and modes of life that tends 
to produce this condition. But we very 
rarely find a barren doe among Ameri- 
can-bred stock. On the other hand, we 
have come to look upon litters of 12, 
14, 16, and even 18 and 20 as common 
occurrences at the Bonanza Rabbitry. 

Wean the does gradually by taking 
away part of the youngsters at a time. 
Removing all at once is likely to cause 
a fever because the milk is still secreted 
and there is no natural outlet for it. This 
practice may cause the death of the 
doe, through a poisoning resulting from 
congestion of the milk ducts. Frequently 
this results in paralysis and the doe 
drops dead. This is especially true with 
lean, lanky does that are good milkers. 
When the last of the litter are taken 
away return enough of them to the pen 
of the doe to nurse her OTit once or twice 
after being away from her for twenty- 
four hours. The young will readily 
nurse and the doe is eager to be relieved 
in this way from the surplus of milk. 
By this plan she is ii'.'A gradually and 
does not suffer injury from weaning. 
Feed no succulent food to the doe while 
weaning the young. If you have a 
valuable litter it is just as well to leave 
them with the doe until they are ten 
or twelve weeks old. They may not 



derive much nourishment towards the 
end of this period from the mother, 
but they will receive some and this is 
not only the best food for them but 
seems also to act as a preventive cf 
disease and assists them in get'dng over 
the critical period of youth. After ten 
or twelve weeks, depending somewhat 
upon the degree of forwardness of the 
young, the doe will no longer permit 
them to suckle but will fight them away 
and resist any efforts in that direction. 
It is then best to remove them at once 
and, usually, no precaution is necessary 
as regards the mother in these cases. 
She is probably pretty well dried by 
that time and will receive no bmm 
from a cessation of nursing. 

Not only should the succulent foods 
be removed from a weaning doe but 
all grasses, vegetables and heavy grains 
as well. Give her just a trifle of bran 
for two or three days and dry hay or 
straw. Give her plenty of room for 
exercise and let her run about. Give 
her a pile of fresh loam in which she may 
burrow and cool her fevered breast. She 
should not be bred until three or four 
days after the milk is dry. Then grad- 
ually reinstate her succulent food. When 
the last of the litter are removed let 
her go back to nurse them twice the 
first day, say night and morning, and 
once the next day. After a doe has 
nursed eight or ten weeks her milk 
becomes very rich and the doe becomes 
thin. When the demand for the milk 
ceases the system takes it up and it 
becomes the fat or flesh that gives the 
doe the plumpness which we call good 
condition. 

Some does wean their young at five or 
six weeks and fight them away prevent- 
ing them from nursing longer. These 
rarely have any difficulty with the 
weaning process. It is good mothers 
that are liable to be injured. Sometimes 
the milk glands are enlarged or suppur- 
ations or swellings take place. A doe 
that is resting after having weaned a 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



37 



litter and having been bred for another, 
should be fed moderately but in great 
variety, even to the twigs and boughs 
from fruit trees. 



CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE 
YOUNG. 

For the first few months of their ca- 
reer the young do not require such con- 
stant and watchful attention as the 
breeding does because their mission in 
life is then simply to eat and grow 
and develop. Nevertheless they must 
be looked after with a sufficient degree 
of care. Their responsibilities will in- 
crease as they grow older and they must 
be fitted and prepared for these. The 
hare is a very warm blooded animal. 
The young are born naked, and the 
mother covers them as soon as born 
with fur plucked from her own breast. 
She then goes out about her pen and 
leaves them to themselves until night 
when she goes to them at intervals and 
nurses them. Except during the com- 
paratively brief periods of suckling they 
are left constantly to themselves day 
and night. Yet one rarely suffers or dies 
from the cold, no matter how severe 
that may be. The hair-lined and hair- 
covered nest which the mother makes 
for the young is perfectly adapted to the 
climate in which they may happen to 
be born and the instinct of the mother, 
in this regard, is perfectly accurate and 
reliable. The mother will uncover them 
when they require more fresh air and her 
instinct may always be trusted in this 
respect. In the middle of a hot day the 
doe will open the covered nest and to- 
ward night recover it. There- 
fore, for the first three weeks, 
or until they leave the nest and 
commence life, to some extent for them- 
selves, by beginning to take other nour- 
ishment than that provided for them 
by the mother, she may be trusted to 
look out for them. All that is necessary 
is to provide both doe and young with 
quarters reasonably adapted to the cli- 
mate in which the young are to be reared. 



In cold climates they will require warmer 
quarters than they need on the Pacific 
Coast, for example. In extremely cold 
climates, especially during the most 
severe weather, they should have access 
to a mow of hay or, at least to a bale 
of hay or straw. The mother will bur- 
row into this and make a warm, snug, 
nest for herself and her progeny. With 
proper attention to these details, the 
amount of protection afforded being 
varied to suit the degrees of cold to be 
endured in different climates at different 
seasons of the year, the hare will thrive 
in any climate and will do equally well 
in Southern California or in Alaska. 

Other animals, the cat for example, 
lies with her young to keep them warm, 
but the female hare never remains with 
her young longer than the time required 
to nurse them. She will permit them 
to suckle many times during the night, 
but rarely, if ever, in the daytime. The 
hare is a night-prowling animal. He 
mopes about, usually crouching in a 
corner of his hutch, during the daytime, 
but during the twilight, both of morn- 
ing and evening, hares are very frolic- 
some and they roam a good deal during 
the night, especially on moonlight nights. 
The morning or the evening is the suit- 
able time for mating bucks and 
does. They should never be disturbed 
during the middle of the day more than 
is absolutely necessary, and on hot days 
they should be disturbed even less than 
in cold weather. 

The food of the young for the first 
ten weeks of their existence should be 
light-weight bran, hay and a thin shav- 
ing of carrot or other succulent vege- 
table to each little hare. They should 
have three fresh supplies of hot water 
daily until they are ten weeks or three 
months old, the dish being removed from 
the pen after they have been permitted 
to drink. 

Never allow more than from eight to 
fifteen young to run together in one pen 
after they are weaned. And eight is 
much better than fifteen. They have a 



38 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



habit of piling up together and those in 
the middle of the pile become heated and 
moist with perspiration or with the 
breath of the hares. When the pile 
breaks and they scatter about the pen, 
those very warm are liable to contract 
severe colds. Always furnish both old 
and young, in some portion of the pens, 
a floor so that they may enjoy occas- 
sional rests from lying on the ground. 
A portion of every pen should be thor- 
oughly protected from sun heat, and 
here hammocks should be placed made of 
wire screen, half-inch mesh, and strung 
about two feet from the floor. These 
make very comfortable resting places 
for the hares in hot weather. The lit- 
tle bunnies soon learn that lying on the 
screen affords more air about their bod- 
ies than they secure on the ground, and 
they soon learn to lie in the hammocks. 
They will spend much of their time 
there during the summer season. They 
will learn to jump into the hammock 
from a box which may be placed in a 
convenient position with this point in 
view. The hammock may reach from 
side to side of the pen and a width of 
of two or three feet is not too wide. It 
should be fitted with hooks at each end 
so that it may be dropped at either 
end or removed altogether when you 
want to pass through the pen. The 
young will prefer this to a cellar-box 
during the hot season. 



GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. 

In selecting foundation stock for a 
rabbitry, the most vital point is to se- 
lect males and females that are not 
akin to each other. Inbreeding has 
been proven to have been the ruination 
of thousands upon thousands of every 
class of domesticated stock. This has 
discouraged a great many, and the 
same course will continue to discourage 
all who may follow it; for it will 
always result in speedy failure. The 
same course would result in failure in 
the management of cows or any other 
stock. 

When the leverets are removd from 



the doe, the litter is put into an apart- 
ment by itself, or several litters may 
be put together and allowed to remain 
up to ten weeks of age, provided they 
have plenty of room. If restricted in 
room for exercise, the soothing syrups, 
cough remedies, and Ripan's tabules, so 
gravely described by some authorities 
upon, the hare, will be called for ta 
counteract some of the numerous dis- 
eases, which are as unneccessary under 
a proper system of management, as 
they are disagreeable for owner and 
fatal to the hares, if allowed to develop. 
When well cared for, and bred out in- 
stead of in, and given plenty of room, 
each succeeding generation will be an 
improvement upon that proceding it. 
No stock that is not fully up to a high 
standard of excellence and qualification 
should be sold for breeding purposes, 
even if the buyers are willing to take 
their chances. 

We have never found any diseased 
conditions in our hares when well cared 
for, as they have been ever since exper- 
ience taught us to disregard the foolish 
rules laid down by self-styled "author- 
ities," and to depend upon common sense 
and our knowledge of what is natural 
for the hare. In some specimens that 
were too closely confined, we found a 
mottled appearance of the lungs, indi- 
cating that the rabbit had a lack of air 
and exercise. When they have plenty 
of exercise they never develop this ap- 
pearance. If anything is wrong with the 
hare he dies very quickly, usually in 
from one to two days after the diffi- 
culty is first noticed. 

Cover your rabbitry or arbors in fields 
with hop vines when hares are reared 
that way. These will grow rapidly, will 
make a good appearance, and will give 
your rabbits plenty of shade in the sum- 
mer. In winter, when the rabbits need 
a little sun, the leaves are gone. A few 
hops will often come handy in the house; 
or you can sell them to druggists and 
grocers or brewers. The eastern vari- 
eties of grapes would answer equally 
well as they can be grown upon trel- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



39 



Uses. The Concord, Isabella and Dela- 
ware are good varieties. 

If one desires to raise hares solely for 
meat and with little reference to choice 
breeding, an acre of ground could be 
fenced in by sinking a wire netting, 
two-inch mesh, a foot and a half deep 
into the ground, with a three-foot strip 
of one-inch mesh above ground, then a 
four-foot strip of two-inch mesh above 
that, making a fence seven feet high. 
The strip below the ground would pre- 
vent the hares from burrowing out of 
the inclosure and dogs from digging in, 
and the fence would be high enough to 
keep out the biggest and liveliest dog. 
From twenty-five to fifty does and one 
buck could be turned loose in this in- 
closure. Hay racks, made on the same 
principle as already described, but port- 
able, should be put up. Feed the hares 
once a day to hay and grain carried to 
them in a cart or wheel-barrow. With 
twenty-five does a draft of two hun- 
dred could be made monthly any time 
after six months, for the market. These 
would dress from five to six pounds each, 
and would be worth 20 cents 
per pound. Under these conditions 
probably twenty-three out of the 
twenty-five does would produce a 
litter every month in the year, with 
perhaps a rest of one month. This 
would give an income of $200 per month 
from an acre of land after a waiting 
period of only six months. Cut this 
income in two and it far exceeds the 
returns secured by the Chinese market 
gardeners who are the recognized masters 
of the art of intense culture in this 
country. Such a rabbitry would need no 
elaborate pens or improvements. It 
would be necessary to provide only a 
few piles of boulders or some logs and 
brushes under and about which the does 
CQuld construct their warrens, and 
trellises for grapes for shade. The trel- 
lises may be roofed to shed rain. 



KEEP THE PENS CLEAN. 

The pens should be thoroughly cleaned 
once a week. All the droppings should 
be swept out, and all the old straw and 
hay should be taken away. The nests 
should also be removed every time a 
litter is taken from the doe. The key- 
notes of success in this fascinating in- 
dustry are method, care, common sense 
in selection and breeding, and the very 
highest standard of honorable dealing 
with all patrons. Remember that a 
buyer well satisfied is the best possible 
advertisement that you can have. He 
will inevitably send you other customers. 
Sometimes hares when sold are shipped 
in a sack. This practice is inhumane 
and injudicious, and cannot be too 
strongly condemned. It is cruel to the 
animal, and it is not good business. 
The lungs of the hare become very 
quickly effected when deprived of an 
abundance of fresh air. No apparent dam- 
age may be done, but at the same time, 
the hare may droop and develop unex- 
pected weakness. Then the buyer will 
be dissatisfied. An open-sided crate is 
the only satisfactory arrangement for 
transporting a hare, even for a short 
distance of a mile or two. For longer 
journeys the crate should be equipped 
with automatic feed box and automatic 
drinking fountain, permanently fastened 
and an abundance of feed and water 
supplied. 

It is a mistake for American breeders 
to assume that only in England are 
choice specimens bred. We now have the 
strains in this country to breed as fine 
types as can be bred anywhere, and our 
climate, food, facilities and methods of 
management are superior to those of our 
British cousins. Moreover, American- 
bred stock is much more hardy than 
imported stock. Not more than forty 
per cent, of the latter lives to be of any 
real, permanent value to the importers. 
In fact, if an importer secures a moderate 
number of breedings from an imported 
buck he, as a rule, has reason to con- 



40 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




W u 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



41 



gratulate himself and must be content 
with having introduced a new perhaps 
valuable strain into his rabbitry. Im- 
ported hares rarely become fully ac- 
climated, but the native-born are hardier. 
We have shipped hares to the far eastern 
parts of the United States in the dead 
of winter, and have yet to receive the 
first complaint of sickness resulting 
from the journey. On the contrary, 
we have numerous letters on file testi- 
fying to the pleasure of buyers at re- 
ceiving the hares purchased by them 
in the pink of condition. 

THE QUESTION OF FOOD. 

Hares like variety, and will eat al- 
most any kind of grain or green food, 
vegetables and fruit; also, alfalfa or 
other kinds of hay. They will eat bread 
and other supplies from the table, ex- 
cept meat. Never give the young any 
■green feed. It is a safe rule to give them 
nothing except well-cured hay, grain 
and oats until after they are four months 
old. The older hares may be fed fresh- 
cut alfalfa, that which is in bloom when 
cut is best. When this or any other 
vegetable has attained sufficient age to 
possess some sugar and vegetable fat, 
hares will do well upon it fed green; but 
half-matured green stuff fed green es- 
pecially when wet, is likely to cause 
bloat and death in a hare the 
same as in cattle and sheep. 
All green stuff should be fed 
at mid-day, after it has been wilted 
by the sun. No wet vegetables or green 
stuff of any kind should ever be fed 
hares, whether old or young. It will 
surely cause colic and sickness and may 
cause death. Even the cured alfalfa 
leaves, if fed in too large quantities at 
a time, are sure to make trouble. The 
hares eat too much of such palatable 
food and then drink too much. This 
overloading of their stomachs often kills 
them. 

In excessively hot weather over-fat 
hares will die. After two years of their 
lives, when confined, they should be 



stinted to grain food and allowed only a 
little once a day when not nursing. It 
is surprising how little will keep a 
breeding doe or buck if it has been well 
cared for up to this age. If unusual 
growth is desired there is nothing better 
to force it than warm milk, given a 
little at a time, and many times a day 
to the doe when nursing, and to the 
young when they begin to eat, and from 
that time until they are nine months 
old. They will then attain their full 
growth, and will be larger and heavier 
at that age than they would have been 
when a year old if fed in the ordinary 
way. A few generations reared in this 
way would give us families of greatly 
increased size and weight. It might 
be possible to double the weight in the 
coursie of five or six years. Of course 
the best and most matured does would 
need be selected for breeding on this 
plan. A doe will consume about two 
cupfuls of fresh, hot milk, daily, while 
nursing; but she will consume a much 
less quantity of other foods. The extra 
weight attained will many times more 
than pay the extra cost of the food. 

As a staple of diet well cured 
alfalfa is good enough feed for hares, 
and they will thrive upon it, in con- 
nection with mixed bran and oats. It 
should be well cured previous to being 
fed. It should be fed in such a way that 
the hares will get the stems mixed with 
the leaves. If fed the leafy portions 
alone they will overeat. The coarser 
straws, which they refuse to eat, should 
be removed every day and fed to cows 
or horses. There is no need of any 
waste. All of the trimmings of vegetables 
from the table, all scraps— except meat 
or grease— will be eaten by the doe and 
her litter. Anything that a sheep or cow 
will eat is number one feed for a hare, 
including such solid fruits as apples and 
pears, green corn, beans, carrots, parsnips, 
stalks of green corn, husks, pea pods 
and vines are unequaled, etc. All these 
are excellent food and will be relished. 



42 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



To force growth, the cereals as prepared 
for the table, such as oats and wheat, 
cooked in milk and water, making a 
mush, will be taken by the young with 
avidity, and they will develop upon these 
with great rapidity. 

Avoid raw potatoes and potato par- 
ings. They are injurious. Whenever 
you change to a new kind of food 
accustom the hare to it gradually, giv- 
ing a little at a time, at first. Winter- 
grown alfalfa, or alfalfa that has been 
forced upon heavy, excessively wet lands, 
is cold and full of weak juices and 
should be used with caution. 

These directions for feeding apply 
particularly to the Pacific Coast, where 
the alfalfa is the staple fodder. In 
other sections other grasses, such as 
clover or timothy, may profitably be 
substituted. 

Coarse, bright straw should be kept 
before the hares at all times. Good oat 
hay may also be given. If alfalfa 
alone is fed, the hares will eat too much 
and will become pot-bellied, ruining ths 
long, racy form which they should have. 
Hares are by nature browsing animals 
and prefer foods containing much fiber. 
They will eat the wood of their pens 
if not supplied with wood in some form. 
The twigs of apple, peach, apricot and 
plum trees are relished and it is a good 
plan to furnish this kind of food every 
few days. Twigs about the size of a 
lead pencil are about right- Ailing 
anfmals should always have food of this 
kind. 

Don't stimulate hares with condiments 
or patented food stuffs. Their lives will 
be shortened by such practice. Much 
of the imported stock is stock that has 
been fed highly seasoned foods, under 
the idea that this gives them spirit 
and sleekness of coat. The loss in this 
class of stock is enormous. Probably 
ten per cent, die on the trip across the 
ocean and another thirty per cent, within 
three or four months after landing. Our 
climate is vastly different from the cold 



and foggy climate of England, where it 
rains about half the time and fogs pre- 
vail the other half. The imported stock 
falls short in weight from three to five 
pounds as compared with American-bred 
hares, and the number of young to the 
litter is from fifty to ninety per cent, 
in our favor. 

In connection with feeding shrubs we 
warn the reader never to give hares or 
any other animal the leaves, flowers, 
bark or wood of the oleander tree. This 
is a poisonous tree and has caused the 
death of both man and beast. But the 
twigs of other trees are very much 
relished, and, if fed twice a week, will 
be found to be preventives of many of 
the ailments found among hares. 



PRINCIPAL DISEASES OF THE 
HARE. 

The two diseases among hares that 
are most troublesome are undoubtedly 
snuffles and slobbers There are other 
ailments, some of minor importance and 
easily relieved by simple agencies, others 
of greater severity and in which there 
is, usually, not much use of doctoring 
the hare. The quicker he is killed and 
put out of misery the better. But these 
are of rare occurrence. 

Snuffles will attack hares anywhere 
if too closely confined. It arises from 
am irritation of the delicate mucous 
membranes of the nose and air passages 
caused by the fumes of the ammonia 
in the droppings and urine of the hare, 
as well as from a cold, It does not 
come from a cold alone as some people 
erroneously believe. 

The best way to cure snuffles is to 
prevent it. This can be done by a con- 
stant use of antiseptics. The best of 
all is fresh air, which is also cheapest 
of all, and should constantly be supplied 
in great abundance. Dry loam, not sand, 
should also be plentifully supplied to 
the floors of all pens and should be 
renewed frequently, that which has be- 
come saturated and foul being carted 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



43 



away to the manure pile. If these 
remedial agencies are constantly used 
there will rarely be snuffles, but a third 
excellent antiseptic is Formalin, a prep- 
aration made in England and imported 
into this country. It comes in a highly 
concentrated liquid, which may be pur- 
chased at drug-stores. Twenty-five 
cents worth will last a long time. A 
weak solution is made by adding one 
teaspoonful of Formalin to a quart of 
plain water. A stronger and better 
solution for more severe cases is ob- 
tained by using two teaspoonfuls of 
Formalin to a quart of water. This 
should be sprayed through the pens 
by use of an atomizer, such as is used 
for spraying the nose and throat in 
sickness, or, better because quicker, by 
using a syringe with a nozzle that will 
give a spray. In the solutions men- 
tioned this preparation is non-poisonous 
and its use every day or two will keep 
the pens free from all odors and will 
thoroughly disinfect them^ killing the 
microbes that cause snuffles and other 
diseases. 

Slobbers is a disagreeable complaint 
most often seen in young rabbits but 
sometimes in old ones. There is a run- 
ning discharge of watery fluid from the 
sides of the mouth and the hare weakens 
and wastes away. One authority rec- 
ommends the following remedy: Equal 
parts of oil of juniper and sweet spirits 
of nitre. Five drops of the mixture in a 
teaspoonful of milk or water twice a 
day. Another remedy re:ommended is 
a little common borax given in water 
or a piece the size of a pea placed in 
the mouth. Washing the mouth with 
borax and water is said to do good in 
this disease. 

The fact that the hare sometimes 
takes disease does not prove that he is 
a particularly delicate animal. Any 
animal, even man, would become dis- 
eased if exposed to the conditions that 
some hares are compelled to endure by 
their short-sighted owners. If you wish 



to make your rabbitry a success go at 
it in the right way and remember that 
care and cleanliness, with abundant, 
varied and pure food, are the requisites 
of success and profit. 

Do not expect to keep a whole herd 
of rabbits healthy if confined in narrow, 
close quarters. 



GENERAL PREVENTATIVE MEAS- 
URE. 

A circular runway is a splendid thing 
for giving hares exercise. These should 
be provided with hurdles, say four to 
each circular runway. These hurdles 
should be gradauted from eight inches 
up, increasing by four inches and should 
be adapted to the ages of the hares. 
At six months of age the hare will 
scale a hurdle four feet high. Jumping 
over these will not only give them 
healthful exercise but will strengthen 
all their muscles and will make them 
long and racy. They will turn them- 
selves in the air and will shake their 
heads in intense enjoyment. It is a 
pleasure to watch them enjoying them- 
selves, making a treat for the owner 
or breeder as well as for the hares. 
A run of ten or twenty minutes, or half 
an hour is fun for them. 
Hares will always run in a 
circle whether in frolic or in 
fear. Make this runway a foot and a 
half or two feet in width and give the 
hares ground floor to run upon. There 
can be three concentric rings, one within 
the other. Make them of one-inch mesh 
wire. If made of two-inch mesh the 
hares are likely to catch their feet and 
some of them will be injured. 

Have some convenient way to reach the 
hares, when you want to take them out, 
by opening gates. This plan is espec- 
ially good for the breeder who is fitting 
specimens for prize-winning. In such a 
runway a hare will travel many miles 
in the course of half a day. This 
runway should be protected from the sun 
by some material. A runway twenty 



44 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



feet in diameter gives a course of sixty 
feet. Three hares, placed in these circles, 
side by side, will invariably travel and 
in the same direction. 

Variety of food, and pet dishes, will 
go a long way as a preventive of dis- 
eases. Make mashes with a little oil 
cake in them. Take one pint of oil 
meal and mix it with four gallons of 
bran. Add half a cupful of salt. Then 
to this add one-fourth of a cup of ground 
ginger, a good article. Add a cup or a 
cup and a half of pulverized charcoal, 
ground down to about half the size of 
kernels of rice. The best is that made 
from the bark of the black willow, but 
other charcoal will do, if this cannot 
be obtained, and should be kept in every 
rabbitry. Put this mixture in a kettle 
of boiling water. Have sufficient water 
to allow it all to swell freely. Give it 
from five to ten minutes of free boiling, 
then ten to twenty minutes of macer- 
ation. An hour even would do no harm. 
When done it should be nearly stiff 
enough ta hold a ladle erect, not sloppy but 
a heavy mush. This quantity will give 
two feeds for a large rabbitry, being fed 
as prepared the first day and reheated 
the second day. Feed this preparation 
two days in succession each hare having 
a good tablespoonful for breakfast or 
supper. Give no other grain food at the 
same meal. Cocoanut meal is an ex- 
cellent substitute for the oil cake; yel- 
low corn meal is another, but do not 
use two of these three at the same time. 
A doe that milks freely and is thinning 
down rapidly needs a treat like this 
often, and, in some instances, should 
have one feed of this a day, as much 
as she will take. Feed this mush as hot 
as the hares will bear, but taking care not 
to burn them, otherwise they will prob- 
ably never touch the dish again. 

Carrots, beets and rutabages are ex- 
cellent succulent vegetables except when 
they have lain in the ground all winter. 
In that case they should not be fed, there 
is too much pith in them. When the 



roots attempt to put out new tops or 
to set up a new growth there is 
little or no nutriment, and the fiber is 
injurious. It disturbs the digestive 
tract and produces paralysis, lameness 
and other ailments as results of this 
disturbance of the digestion. Flowers 
of common yellow sulphur are a good 
thing to mix in with the mash in cases 
where there is a lack of bowel action. 
It is a good practice to give this once 
or twice a week all around the herd, 
adding two tablespoonsful, or about 
one-third of a cupful to the quantity of 
grain above described. 

The above quantities are for hares 
that are past three months of age. Nurs- 
ing hares should have little or not cold 
succulent vegetables. Cabbage is es- 
pecially injurious to the little ones in 
Southern California, but probably would 
have no injurious effect in northern or 
higher latitudes. We must choose our 
foods sometimes according to locality, for 
it is certainly true that what is safe 
or even beneficial in some climates is 
injurious in others. Hares will stick 
to alfalfa for a few years but will not 
be long-lived on this diet. In time they 
become heavy and sluggish and then 
there is a prospect of trouble. 

Another nice treat is the twigs of 
trees which may be given on those days 
when no mash is given. As a forcing 
system when rapid growth is desired add 
to the formula for the mush a gallon 
of sweet milk. Now we have an ideal 
food for this purpose. The milk may be 
added after the porridge is well mixed, 
has commenced to boil and swell and 
needs thinning. This is a spelndid ration 
for helping out nursing does. 

The most serious difficulty in the 
rearing of rabbits is their taking colds, 
or the breaking down of the circulatory 
powers, which is the prime cause of 
colds. The vital powers of the hare 
have probably commenced to wane per- 
haps a month before he takes cold. As 
long as he is on the thrifty, growthy 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



45 .^ 



side he is all right. Hence the necessity 
of the treatments above referred to. The 
ultimate cause of disease is a lack of 
condition. Snuffles is an uncured 
cold which has run into a chronic 
condition, and may be called catarrh 
It is not a disease to be 
feared as long as the hare blows his 
nose and cleans out his head. He never 
does this when his lungs are weak. If 
the hare lives to warm weather and, 
if nature, has a rest from breeding, and 
his constitutional vigor is kept up by 
the little treats in the way. of diet 
already described, he will almost in- 
variably recover, except in the cases of 
very young hares. But if a hare is on 
the downward side, the cold will quickly 
work its way into the throat, causing 
a rattling there, and will finally involve 
the lungs unless the circulation can be 
aroused to throw it off. The finest 
treatment in such cases is unquestion- 
ably heat, paps and tonics. But be sure 
that your hare has not got into an in- 
flammatory state, which will be shown 
by rapid breathing and excessive thirst. 
In those cases never give any condiment 
such as ginger, pepper, cloves or liquors. 
These inflammatory cases call for specific 
remedial agencies which should be kept 
in stock. In any other stage probably 
three out of four can be cured and placed 
on the safe side in thirty hours, often 
in from twelve to fifteen hours. 

The hare is an animal in which 
changes, for better or worse, take place 
very rapidly. If he is not on the high- 
way to recovery in from twenty to 
thirty hours he is certain to go the other 
way. In these cases of rapid failure 
of the vital power heat is the essential 
thing to be applied, a uniform tem- 
perature and a high temperature. Put 
the sick hare into comfortable quaters 
and give him room enough for seme 
exercise. Put him in a cage two feet 
wide, two feet high and four or five 
feet in length. Let this have wire sides 
and top. Place it in warm room. He 



needs a free circulation of air. When 
a hare is cuddled up and squatty, has 
no motion of the flanks and ribs ap- 
parent, you may be sure that he needs 
warming with hot ginger tea or capsi- 
cum tea. Turn it down his throat with 
a' teaspoon. Put him in a hot room and 
keep him there for from thirty to forty- 
eight hours. 

If the cold settles in the head there 
is often a case of labored breathing when 
there is no inflammation. This distinction 
should be looked forr. An application of 
the oil of eucalyptus to the nostrils will 
prove beneficial and if there is any ac- 
cumulation oif mucous in the nostrils 
this will soon be shown. In this case 
the hare needs tonics. This condition 
often comes on in from twelve to 
twenty-four hours and so suddenly that, 
if you have not seen your hares in that 
period, you cannot tell in what con- 
dition you will find them. A cold in 
the head can be thrown off when the 
hare is in excellent condition of health, 
but, even if it is not cured he may 
linger for months, occasionally having 
spells of sneezing and throwing off ex- 
cretions, for a few days when he ap- 
parently recovers, but the same condi- 
tion returns again later on. This may 
go on for some time, but a second cold 
contracted under such circumstances, 
will usually create sufficient inflam- 
mation in the throat and lungs to cause 
death. Therefore, the simplest cold 
should be cured. The lightest of attacks 
should be followed up until complete 
recovery is attained. 

Neither the doe nor the buck should be 
used for breeding purposes when there 
is the least sign of a cold in the head 
or a discharge from the nostrils or any 
ill condition whatever. For the hare 
will certainly transmit this disturbance 
to its offspring and, in this way, the 
condition may be perpetuated through 
many generations until we have bred 
what may be accurately termed, in the 
accepted nomenclature of all breeders 



46 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




FAIRY QUEEN, imported by Bonanza Rabbitry, Dec. 3rd, 1 1899. 



Atsix7months of age; weig-ht 754 lbs., score 94^. Sire, Champion Priorj' Prince; dam, bj' Red King 
he by Champion Unicorn. Reserved as a breeder, 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



47 



of live stock, a thoroughbred sick hare. 
We have got now to a point where the 
dozen and one remedies offered and 
termed snuffle cures have perhaps, in 
some instances, been of slight benefit, 
l)ut only when there is a slight attack 
of cold and the animal is in excellent 
condition and has had excellent care. 
Care and good nursing are worth ten 
times as much as the patented and 
greatly lauded remedies which promise 
to cure any and all cases in any and 
all latitudes, a proposition that is ir- 
rational to start with. 

We find that colds will affect the hare 
in five different and distinct forms. 
First we notice a light, or thin, watery 
excretion from the nostrils and the hare 
wipes his nose with his forepaws and 
on these, extending from the foot up 
to the knee, may be seen marks of this 
nose cleaning process. The hair on 
forelegs will be stuck together and 
is usually more or less moist and yet 
the nostrils, without close examination 
will exhibit no signs of a discharge. 
This is really the first evidence of the 
hare having taken a cold. 

When this is allowed to run along 
until he takes a little more cold, and the 
former condition being aggravated, pro- 
duces a heavier discharge, frequent 
blowing of the nostrils ?nd continuous 
and prolonged spells of sneezing, where 
the hare turns his head to one side and 
strikes at his nose with both paws, or 
only with one paw when the trouble 
seems to be located in only one nostril. 
The excretions are now usually heavy, 
though sometimes nothing comes from 
the nostrils for two or three weeks, then 
the discharge becomes heavy and often 
of a mucilaginous, transparent nature. 
By this time, in 90 per cent, of these 
cases, there will be more or less con- 
stitutional disturbance, and the hare 
will appear dejected. His ears will lie 
back on his neck. His eyes are dull 
and sleepy and he will sit in his pen 
and crouch; often he eats but little, 
though this latter rule does not always 



apply as he will sometimes eat with 
great avidity. By this time he is feel- 
ing badly in head and stomach and the 
reflex action of this condition of the 
stomach is usually upon the lungs when 
there is a slow decomposing state in 
the pleura, gradually contracting the 
lungs and the respiration is slow and 
partially suppressed. When this is 
noticeable you may decide that the hare 
has serious lung trouble. When this 
condition is allowed to run its entire 
course and death ensues, a post-mortem 
examination will reveal a heavy, cheesy 
substance between lungs and the ribs 
of a green cast, though some- 
times a heavy white pus like bonny- 
clabber will be found throughout the 
lungs, and the heart is sometimes wholly 
or partially covered with a membranous 
coating. 

Another form that a cold will produce, 
instead of the thick, mucilaginous dis- 
charge from the nostrils following the 
watery discharge is nodules or abscesses, 
sometimes on the shoulders and some- 
times on the sides and tack and under- 
neath the forelegs. In this form a thick, 
cheesy pus will, if allowed to grow 
often extend over a large area of the 
body underneath the skin and, of course, 
cause death. In this form the hare is 
also dejected, and crou'hes in his ap- 
pearance. Left to himself he will often 
linger on for weeks before death ensues. 
With this form there is usually but 
little inflammation as there is in cases 
where rapid and labored breathing is 
manifested. There is usually some 
mucilaginous coating about the nostrils 
and this is often of a yellowish cast and 
seems to dry down and adhere to the 
fur, making a crust-like appearance and, 
not infrequently, causes the hair to fall 
off and the skin underneath to appear 
very much inflamed. Now this is the 
form where the cold affects the skin 
instead of the internal organs. 

Still another form in which a cold 
will effect a hare is with little or no 



48 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



external signs whatever except perhaps 
a slight watery discharge from the nos- 
trils for two or three days and, more 
often, only a day. The first real ex- 
ternal notification that anything is 
wrong with the hare, aside from this 
discharge, is that he has a drawn up 
leg, usually the hind leg. The cords of 
the hip and thigh appear contracted and 
there is considerable soreness. The hare 
moves in a crouching manner when he 
moves at all. This soreness or contrac- 
tion of the cords sometimes affects the 
front leg and shoulder similarly and an- 
other sign is that the head is turned 
to one side carrying a stiff neck as though 
he had been bruised or had a boil on the 
neck. Here is an illustration of how 
a cold will affect the system when it 
settles in the blood instead of in the 
vital organs or the skin. The reflex 
action is upon the liver and the liver 
controls the cords and nerves and almost 
invariably, when the head is turned and 
twisted, the hare is nervous and excited 
and acts rather wild, especially when 
taken up. If the hare turns the head 
to one side, that is, rolls the top of the 
head towards the floor, there is invari- 
ably a stoppage of the nostril on that 
side, far inside the head, and at least 
a great deal of irritation, all caused by 
the cold. Occasionally the cause of the 
twisted neck is abscess in the ear, often 

caused by a cold. 

Yet another form in which the cold 
will affect the hare is that it settles 
directly in the lungs and larynx and, in 
this form, there is usually labored 
breathing early. The head will be 
thrown up in the air and there will be 
noticeably rapid vibrations of the sides 
and flanks, especially of the flanks, and 
very little motion of the lungs which 
are sore. This is acute inflammation of 
the lungs and must be removed at once 
or death will ensue, usually within 
forty-eight hours. 

An intense thirst always accompanies 
this last form of inflammation. 



There are oftentimes external mani- 
festations of a cold, such as the so- 
called canker in the ear, inflammations 
and discharge of the eyes and occasion- 
ally a case occurs where a serious bowel 
trouble arises, but this is almost invar- 
iably the result of an unusually largt 
supply of green and succulent food al 
lowed the hare at the time he contracted 
the cold and before the cold was noticed. 
The result is usually diarrhoea and oc- 
ca.sionaliy an intense inflammation of 
the bowels. 

Strange as it may appear, hare breed- 
ers have voluntarily, and with no knowl- 
edge of the peculiarities of the various 
forms of illness affecting the hare, char- 
acterized about every form of a cold 
where there is any trouble of the naisal 
passage or the respiratory tract as "snuf- 
fles." If a hare blows through his nost 
he has the "snuffles," if he turns and 
twists his head and there is a discharge 
from the nostrils, he has the "snuffles," 
if he throws his head in the air high, 
some have learned, it is true, to call it 
pneumonia, but this is about the extent 
of the names that are applied to the 
various forms of a cold. 

A chronic condition resulting from a 
cold will linger with hardily-consti- 
tuted specimens as long as two years 
and they rarely ever get thoroughly well. 
Each time that they take a cold the olti 
condition is aggravated and there is an 
irritation of the mucus lining of the na- 
sal passage that usually, with the ap- 
pearance of each succeeding attack of 
a cold, becomes inflamed and swollen, 
and nearly, or quite, closes the passage 
way and provokes the hare to try to 
open the passage that he may get aii 
and to do this he makes vigorous efforts 
at sneezing. 

The hare whose lungs are involved 
never sneezes and rarely ever blows his 
nose. When he gets to this stage it is 
almost impossible to save him. If the 
nostrils seem to be clogged and discharg- 
ing a heavy, frothy substance, you may 
rest assured that the lungs are seriously 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



49 



involved and it is doubtful if any treat 
ment whatever will effect a cure. 

The proper way to cure this trouble 
in the various forms is to attack the 
original cause, which is a cold, and the 
only safe course to pursue is to watch 
the hare's nostils and mrvre especially 
the inner side of the front feet and an 
inch or two of the forelegs above the 
feet, or that portion the hare uses for 
a handkerchief. 

At the first appearance of any gum- 
ming up the fur of the front feet, it is 
the most simple thing in the world to 
remove the cause, which is a simple 
cold in the head. To overcome this is 
to cure all the disease except where it 
may be characterized as intense inflam- 
mation in the lungs, described in the 
fifth and last form in which a cold af- 
fects a hare, and also in that form where 
the hare seems to have the cords of the 
legs drawn up, and the first appearance 
that he ha.s taken cold is manifested iu 
this way. Local treatment of the nos- 
trils with the proper medicament, to- 
gether with the use of the proper form- 
ula for internal treatment, which may 
be mixed with the grain or the drink, is 
the only safe way to remedy these ser- 
ious troubles and to prevent losses. 

With the nodules the proper thing to 
do is, as soon as they are swollen to the 
size of a hazel nut or a little larger, to 
lay them open with a lance, cutting 
lengthwise of the body or the limb, and 
making a large opening, removing the 
pus if any has formed, which will prob- 
ably be the case, though there will be 
more the third or fifth day later, bui 
there is no use waiting this length of 
time. Having cleansed the sacs, apply 
a lotion, or embrocation, that •will tend 
to allay the inflammation of the skin 
and flesh, when healing will take place 
in a very short time, or as soon as thu 
constitutional condition is normal and 
a thrifty growth follows. 

If the contracted cords and distorted 
condition of the limbs prevail, subject 
the hare to a high temperature by mak- 



ing a cabinet that will allow his head 
to protrude, and then subject the body 
to a temperature of about 105 degrees, 
which is the best external treatment 
possible. Rubbing with the proper lin- 
iment is good, but invariably internal 
treatment must be employed if the cause 
is internal, and it cannot be reached in 
any other way. 

In the case of inflammation of t!:e 
lungs, if taken as soon as the troublt 
arises, or as soon as you have noticeii 
any unnatural and rapid breathing and 
vibration of the body at the flanks, it 
all cases where the animal is not ex- 
tremely old, it may be cured in from one 
to three days. And usually the bene- 
ficial effect of proper treatment is felt 
in about twenty to thirty hours. Here 
again the high and uniform temperature 
or hot-air treatment is required and is 
of the utmost value in combination with 
the internal medication. 

In all cases of illness restrict the use 
f f cold drinks and employ as hot liquids 
as the hare will take, and often when 
thirsty they will take hot milk, when 
they will not touch it in the natural 
state of health. 

Always dilute the milk with hot wa- 
ter, as it is better to give it in this way 
than in the full strength. A gruel mads 
from lightweight bran or rolled oats or 
rolled wheat, the gruel being strained, 
is the best form of food and should be 
furnished from three to five times a day. 
This should be made of about the con- 
sistency of a heavy soup so that the 
bare may lap it up. In any case give 
all the hot drinks that the hare will 
take and as often as he will take them, 
and when there is inflammation of the 
lungs, bowels, etc., he will take his med- 
icine in tliis way and it should be given 
to him as often as in one-half hour 
doses. 

For the disturbance in the ears and 
eyes and the watery discharge from the 
eyes confine the hare in a chamber where 
high and prolonged heat may be em- 
ployed, and by this means, together with 



50 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



internal treatment, the trouble may be 
overcome. Then use a dropper and drop 
into the ear one-half of the following 
mixture — One teaspoonful of sweet oil 
to which has been added two to three 
drops of oil of eucalyptus, one to three 
drop)3 of spirits of turpentine and three 
to five drops of laudanum. This is about 
the best local applications. In applying 
this, hold the hare fast in the natural 
position with the head and ears erect so 
that the oil may flow against the drum 
of the ear. This same proportion, but 
of one-half the strength of the eucalyp- 
tus oil and the spirits of turpentine, ap- 
plied with the dropper to the eye two 
or three times a day will overcome the 
external appearance of the cold there. 

Camphorated oil is excellent to apply 
to both the ear and eye. 

Hares will take on ill conditions when 
kept in large herds just the same as 
other animals, like hogs, sheep, cattle 
horses or poultry. Any rabbitry having 
five hundred head must expect to lose 
several animals every month, the oldest 
and youngest included. Every one em- 
barking upon this business should admit 
that it possesses some obstacles, or is 
likely to develop conditions that will 
upset some of his calculations and to 
decrease the estimated profits. He must 
allow a percentage for wear and tear, 
but the wonderful fecundity of the hare 
more than offsets all these losses. 

There is no well-£stablished materia 
medica that can be prescribed and pro- 
cured at drug stores and kept in stock 
covering the different forms of maladies 
that arise in hares as results of simple 
colds. The author has experimented for 
a period of five years with every variety 
of disease arising from this case; has 
dissected many dead hares thus affected 
and killed many in different stages of 
these maladies in order to note their 
condition and the effects of remedies 
upon them. He has perfected certain 
remedies, from materials that are not 
found in the drug stores, which are the 
nearest to an absolute cure of anything 



that he has discovered. The best of these 
is a lotion which is injected into the 
nostrils of the hare with a small glass 
syringe, at the first attack of a cold. 
This lotion is a powerful antiseptic and 
prevents the growth and accumulation 
of the microbes that cause the intense 
inflammation which works all the mis- 
chief. For this is a germ disease and 
contagious as such. This remedy al- 
though powerful, is entirely harmless 
and if a portion of the treatment finds 
its way into the hare's stomach so much 
the better. It will assist in the cure. 
This remedy has proved very satis- 
factory in a great many cases. It is 
a vegetable preparation. 

Compelling the hare to breathe hot air, 
in severe cases, is the bast thing to be 
done, and gives the quickest relief. But 
a hare cannot be given a sweat, as a 
man would be given under similar cir- 
cumstances. But a mechnical device 
may be arranged for heating hares and 
also a cabinet for giving inhallations by 
medicated hot vapors. This will pro- 
duce excellent results when repeated 
three to five times a day, at first, grad- 
ually lessening as the hare recovers. 
This device has saved many hopeless 
cases and, where high-class hares are as 
valuable as they are now, such a device 
is of great value and well worth the 
using. The remedies employed in this 
cabinet are simple and comparatively 
inexpensive. Its use requires little time 
as this method is the quickest of any 
in securing definite results. But even 
this does not reach every case, even 
when no good reason can be assigned 
for failure. Still, it is a grand thing 
to have at hand, for use, on occasion, 
in connection with the internal rem- 
edies mentioned and the lotion and 
liquids recommended. 

We cann»ot account for these epi- 
demics among hares any more than we 
can account for ep'demi:s among men. 
Hares are undoubtedly unusually sus- 
ceptible to the influences of atmospheric 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



51 



changes and conditions. It may be laid 
down as a general rule that a treatment 
which will not cure a simple cold will 
not cure snuffles, so-called. Neither can 
pneumonia be cured except by curing the 
cold, or the cause. 

The lungs in the wild hare, living in 
a natural state, are his strongest organs 
and the most important. They are the 
most perfectly developed for he depends 
upon his speed in running to es;ape 
from his foes, and speed and endurance 
depend, in turn, upon his breathing capa- 
city. Now, when the hare is deprived, 
by disease, of the use of his lungs he 
is deprived of the strongest member of 
his body. If hares are deprived of 
exercise their lungs are weakened, just 
as a man's arm withers if put into a 
sling and deprived of use. In this weak- 
ened condition, if the hare takes cold 
or if injurious atmospheric conditions 
arise, the lungs and respiratory tract 
easily become affected and the hare is 
usually too weak to withstand the at- 
tack. Hence the great loss from dif- 
ficulties of the lungs, throat and nose. 
Roomy pens, a speed course for exercise, 
and an opportunity to burrow in the 
earth will do more, in the long run, to 
prevent these losses than any remedies 
available, because they afford the condi- 
tions that make the hares healthy and 
develop not only their lungs but their 
other vital organs as well. 



COLIC IN YOUNG HARES. 

Occasionally a nursing hare, four or 
six weeks of age, will have an attack 
of colic or indigestion through the ex- 
cessive use of cold drinks and will lie 
apparently dead, or, if in great distress 
from this cause, will lie on his back and 
kick and squeal. For this trouble give 
him two or three teaspoonfuls of pepper 
or ginger tea, or of essence of pepper- 
mint or cinnamon, diluted with hot 
water, or hot sling of whiskey, prepared 
just as you would prepare if for a child. 
Milk is even better to mix with these than 
hot water. Even when apparently dead 



the hare may revive if kept warm. Take 
him away from the dam for a few days 
and give him a little milk to which a 
little sugar has been added. Do not 
give him very rich, heavy milk, better 
skim it or dilute it. After from two 
to five days he may be replaced with 
the litter and, ten days later, you would 
not know that anything had ever hap- 
pened to him. Proper methods of feed- 
ing will usually avoid this difficulty, 
especially if the little hares have their 
hot water three times a day up to ten 
or twelve weeks of age. At that period 
they get their new teeth, commence to 
eat coarser and stronger food, to chew 
their cuds and, in general, to take on the 
airs of full-grown animals. 



VENT DISEASE. 

This unintelligible term is to the 
amateur very indefinite. Why it was 
ever applied to a diseased condition of 
the genital organs of the hare is unex- 
plainable. It comes from England and 
was first heard in this country about 
two years ago when, a shipment of a 
few head proved to be contaminated with 
a form of disease similar, in ^ome in- 
stances, to gonorrhea in the human fam- 
ily. In others it takes the form of 
syphilis, ulcers appearing in the genital 
organs and nodules forming on the hind 
feet and hindquarters of the bare in both 
sexes. 

As yet there has been no great loss to 
any individual breeder, but, collectively, 
the loss would undoubtedly amount to 
several thousands of dollars. This dis- 
eases has baffled the skill of all who have 
attempted to cure it and this is not, by 
any means, the worst phase of the situ- 
ation. A disposition on the part of a few 
perhaps a very few, breeders who have 
been caught by this trouble, to either 
ignore or excuse it as little or nothing 
and then pass the stock on to others 
totally ignorant and unsuspecting, who 
have, in turn, repeated the method of 
making themselves whole, has been the 
cause of great loss. The contamination 



52 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




RUBY PRINCE at 5 months of age. Property of Bonanza Rabbitry. 

Weight 1% lbs., score 95^4. Sire, imported Rochdale, winner of the g-reat Rochdale prize in 
Eng-land in 1898; dam, Lady Alden, daughter of imported Lord Banbur.v and out of imported 
Melba, a doe whose product brought to her owner in the year of 1809 a sum of $1400.00. Re- 
served for ou r stud. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



53 



extends to many herds over a great area 
of country. In fact, it may be said 
that nearly every section of the country 
that is engaged in hare breeding, has 
suffered more or less from this trouble. 
Up to this writing nothing has ap- 
peared in print, either warning or inform- 
ing the public of the extent of this 
trouble. Unquestionably its origin r-tay 
be located in England, and, yet English 
breeders have witheld all information of 
the presence of such ^lisease and many 
unscrupulous breeders have taken ad- 
vantage of the opportunity to urload 
diseased stock upon unsophisticated 
Americans. That it is possible to gain 
any information from them as to the 
source of the disease is very doubtful. 
Communications upon this point br'ng no 
replies or even references to the in- 
quires. Evidently they prefer to give 
us the impression that xhey are totally 
ignorant of the subject. 

The extent to which this trouble may 
involve the interests of the Belgian hare 
industry, in this country depends wholly 
upon the honor and intelligence of 
American breeders. The only safe and 
sure cure for this disease is the axe, a 
thorough application to be made at the 
back of the neck down to, .^nd through 
the windpipe and jugular vein. "Stamp 
it out" should be the motto of every 
breeder and spare not an infected ani- 
mal, be his qualities what Ihey :nay. He 
should allow no animal to leave his 
place unless he has positive knowledge 
as to the perfect freedom of that animal 
from infection, and unless he Knows that 
the hare has not been exposed to con- 
tamination. Never, under aTiy consider- 
ation, allow a specimen to be harbored 
upon the place, when diseased, to enter 
a box, or to, in any way, occupy quar- 
ters that may be occupied by another 
hare. 

There is a possibility of contamination 
extending to perfectly sound and healthy 
stock without actual contact of the le- 
productve organs. One laying the foun- 
dation for a herd should take every pre- 



caution to be absolutely certain that his 
stock is free from this disease: In fact, 
he should exact a guarantee and frcm 
competent and reliable breeders. Once 
having secured a perfectly healthy buck 
or doe, the price of safety i=? "eccrnal 
vigilance," and never take any chances 
when a doe is to be served by a buck, 
if the doe has already been sei-ved by 
another buck. This should be made a 
matter for investigation and the owner 
should furnish certificate of breeding 
from the owner of the buck that 
previously served the doe and allow the 
owner of the buck whose services are ap- 
plied for to investigate and satisfy him- 
self that he is taking no chances. A 
thorough examination from external ap- 
pearances, while usually sufficient, 
nevertheless, does not give absolute evi- 
dence that no contamination of the 
system has, at any previous time, oc- 
curred. 

The degrees of infection vary and some 
light cases may be, by stringent methods, 
quite well hidden, at least for a time, 
though usually the entire organism be- 
comes involved and the infection breaks 
out at a later period and destroys the an- 
imal. Usually the does served by an in- 
fected buck will show the symptoms in 
an enlarged, swollen and inflamed vulva, 
for a period of fifteen to sixty days. A 
great deal depends upon the constitu- 
tion of the doe, her care and her op- 
portunities for cleanliness and for in- 
habiting cleanly quarters and of com- 
ing into direct contact with the earth. 
The earth elements are the greatest ab- 
sorbents and the greatest alleviators of 
inflammation and undoubtedly the best 
assistant in overcoming such trouble 
would be to allow the hare free contact 
with the earth and to enjoy all advan- 
tages of burrowing and lying upon 
mounds of earth. This course of treat- 
ment, so far as known, has never been 
employed, but it is unquestionably 
worthy of the efforts of the investigators 
and experimenters. Blue clay soil would 
undoubtedly allay the external inflam- 



54 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



mation and this employed at the outset, 
if one could know that contamination had 
taken place within say, a period of two 
or three weeks, would probably stay the 
ravages of the disease, but there is no 
certainty of this. 

Weakened constitutions in the pro- 
geny are certain to follow the infec- 
tion and a fine strain of blood may be 
practically be destroyed by simply one in- 
fected hare in a herd. The symptoms 
in a male are practically the same as in 
the female. The sheath becomes in- 
flamed and enlarged and little pustules 
or small ulcers form, oozing out a watery 
excretion, which, later on, becomes 
acrid and extremely irritating. The hare 
usually, through licking the parts, con- 
taminates his entire organism with the 
poison, ultimately causing his death. 
This usually ensues within a period of 
three to ten months after contamina- 
tion. 



CAKED OR SWOLLEN BREAST. 

A caked, or swollen breast in a doe, 
will occasionally occur and usually results 
from contracting a cold soon after par- 
turition, though the same conditions will 
occur at any time during the nursing 
period. 

These inflamed glands should be 
treated by hot applications and this 
treatment followed up with vigorous in- 
ternal treatment for the purpose of re- 
moving the remote cause which is a cold, 
excepting when bruises result from acci- 
dents or injuries, etc. Poultices, friction, 
lotion, etc., will usually overcome this 
difficulty. If the glands become un- 
usually enlarged and continue to in- 
crease in size and the inflammation be- 
comes intense and this condition exists 
for two to three days it will usually be 
necessary to open the glands with a 
lance, making quite a large incision. Do 
not be afraid to use the knife in this 
cause. 

If suppuration has taken place the 
white, cheesy-like formation of pus 
should be removed by pressure and the 



cavity cleaned with the proper medica- 
ments, either a lotion or a paste, and 
recovery usually takes place in a very 
short time. When the pus is allowed to 
remain any length of time sinuses will 
form from one gland to another iind 
these glands will, in turn, swell and 
suppurate and ultimately destroy the 
animal. 

At weaning time youngsters should be 
labelled or marked in some way. 

We have found aluminum labels placed 
in the ear to be the most satifactory 
of any method, as we do not believe in 
disfiguring methods of marking. In fact, 
we beljeve that these are not only crtiel, 
but detract from the beauty of the speci- 
men. The custom of marking hares by 
making holes and slits in the ears 
should be emphatically condemned as 
should also be done to the branding of 
hares, with hot irons in any section of 
the body. 

Never mar the beauty of the hare. The 
aluminum ear label is as light as a wsfer, 
and is quickly and easily put on with- 
out any distress to the hare, or without 
even drawing a particle of blood. It is 
a rare thing that the hare ever moves 
when it is correctly done. These labels 
we invented and make in a series, num- 
bering consecutively from one to one 
thousand (i to looo,) inclusive. 



THE HARE AND MOTHER EARTH. 
Construct at least one pen to every 
four does kept as breeders, so that the 
doe may burrow to her heart's content 
during the period of gestation, up to 
within three days of the time for her 
kindle. This arrangement will insure 
you against go per cent, of the illnesses 
common to breeding does and also pro- 
long the lives of the does by at least one- 
third, while fully 50 per cent, of the 
losses in the young will be avoided. An- 
other advantage will be removing the 
tendency to wry front feet and week 
kneejoints which give to a hare a bear- 
shaped front foot, all of these defects 
being directly attributable to the en- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



55 



forced change of conditions from those 
natural to the rabbit family in freedom 
to dig with the front feet. This use of 
these instruments for burrowing is by 
Nature intended as a means of protec- 
tion from beasts of prey to the doe and 
her young. In the wild state the buck 
rabbit does but little digging, though he 
will assist the doe a little in making a 
burrow. But speed is his chief means of 
protection though be will, when hard 
pressed, use the burrow in which to hide 
from his enemies, but he roams and 
changes his locations and is more liable 
to meet with enemies than is the doe, 
who keeps closer to her burrow, which 
she constructs not far from her original 
home burrow. 

Wry front feet and weak knee joints 
are the outcome of keeping hares en a 
surface into which tb3y cannot burrow, 
and also when closely confined, as in 
the box hutch, where they cannot run. 
This method compels them to simply 
sit, bearing their weight upon tbsir front 
feet, and with little or no other use for 
them, they grow weak, and each suc- 
ceeding generation brings about a more 
pronounced condition of this ill shape. 

Take from the box hutch a matured 
hare with, decidedly wry front feet and 
turn her loose in a paddock and allow 
her to burrow, and within six months' 
time her front feet will be practically 
straight. She will be up on her toss, 
and be so vastly improved in this re- 
spect that one would be unable to iden- 
tify her. In fact, her whole shape will 
change, as will her spirit and ambition. 
A hare when digging a hole strikes with 
one paw right over the other and brings 
them close together. A wry-footed bare 
has the feet turned out at an angle 
away from each other, and when they 
come to dig the effort to bring one foot 
to strike the earth at the same point 
where the other struck it brings about 
the change and results in overcoming 
this defect and straightening the feet. 
A hare resting in a box with no use 
for her front feet other than to hold 



her up becomes weak and deformed, and, 
like a man's arm in a sling, the foot 
loses power and shape. It is true that 
a doe that burrows widens out her foot, 
increases the size of the bone and the 
tendency is to shorten up the length of 
the front limb, and it is therefore doubt- 
ful whether, if hares are allowed to bur- 
row, we shall be able to establish in 
the type of the rabbit family of which 
the Belgian bare is the product the long, 
slender limb found in the true English 
wild hare, for the wild hare never bur- 
rows. He is a rover and extremely fleet, 
needs no burrow for protection, and the 
does drop their litter in a little wisp 
of a nest under a bush. 

The young are born with bair on and 
their eyes open, and in a day or two 
are able to take care of themselves. 
The little, cup-like nest constructed for 
their abode is soon abandoned, and they, 
like their ancestors, resort to their fleet- 
ness and extremely fine sense of hearing 
to protect themselves from tbeir ene- 
mies. The wild hare produces only two 
litters a year and a pair at a time. 
The extremely fine and racy build which 
is always found where there is a grace 
of movement in the highest degree is tbe 
aim of the Belgian hare fancier. 

The wild hare will not thrive in a 
state of captivity, and will produce but 
little, if any. A state of captivity or 
confinement is so decidedly contrary to 
the requirements of his nature that it 
would be like attempting to make him 
walk upon his head, while the rabbit 
family lives in closer quarters and yields 
to confinement better. Still, with the 
rabbit there is a limit, and this limit 
has been found to be best suited to them 
when about 3Xi6-foot pens are used for 
a single specimen. 

Undoubtedly the fancier will find that 
to allow his hares an occasional treat of 
freedom to burrow will result in an in- 
crease of vigor, an increased longevity, 
and increased prolificness, an increase of 
size, increase of shape, and certainly a less 
percentage of disqualified specimens in 



56 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




I/) 

2« 



pq 



pq 



o X. 



W £ 
^^ 

H S 

pq oo 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



57 



both wry front feet, weak knee-joints, 
and small and shapeless eyes. The bold, 
beautiully-colored, wide-open, round- 
shaped eye is less likely to result from 
stock confined in close and dark hutches 
than in open-air, broad daylight pens 
in which the hare may jump and run, 
enabling him to expand his lungs and to 
give practice to his limbs and glands 
and to develop every part of his body. 



SOME HOBBIES OF THE ENGLISH. 

English fanciers, with all of their skill 
and experience and their undoubted tal- 
ent for mating specimens to produce 
good results, still cling to some very 
peculiar notions and hang on. to them 
with an obstinacy that seems very un- 
progressive. They confine their hares 
in little coops, two feet by fcur by two, 
boarded solid on every side, and top, 
with little peep-holes and slits for ven- 
tilation. Even these are so arranged as 
to be closed up tight at every little 
change in the weather by means of a 
board that slides over thsm. 

How utterly irrational this notion is 
may be seen by the reports of judges 
at the English exhibits of hares. These 
reports show that two in every five of 
the hares offered in competition for 
prizes are afflicted with snuffles. If this 
is true of the choice specimens, selected 
for competition, what must be the state 
of the unfortunates left at home? It 
is a most absurd and inhum?,ne prac- 
tice in any climate. No wonder a hare 
brought up in this way falls sick in be- 
ing transported across the Atlantic and 
and the continent to the anxious breeder 
in Los Angeles who has paid a big, round 
sum for him, and is hoping through 
him to raise the quality of his herd. 

This persistency in devising means to 
shut off all air from their hares has been 
carried to such a point by English breed- 
ers that there appears to be only one 
more step for them to take, namely to 
apply an air pump and thus exhaust 
the air in these little coops as fast as it 
creeps in. The first reason that they 



give for this ridiculous custom is the 
fear that their hares may take cold. A 
second reason which they allege is that 
the glossy coat of the hare is bleached 
and therefore spoiled by the light of 
the sun. To avoid this they are kept 
in darkness. The gloom of the closely- 
confined hutch is supposed to give a 
darker and glossier quality to the fur. 
Possibly this is true. But, if true, it 
is contrary to all common sense and 
sound reasoning. For everybody knows 
that the coat of any animal is at its 
best when that animal is in the pink 
of condition, which can only be possible 
when the animal has freedom, air and 
sunshine, an opportunity to stretch every 
muscle, to exercise every organ and to 
expand its lungs with pure oxygen, 
creating pure, strong blood. 

A hare cannot develop and grow strong 
and vigorous, in a dungeon, any more 
than a man can. Nature is always the 
best guide. Place your hare as nearly 
as possible in a state of nature. Give 
him a pen where he can make a choice 
between sunshine and shade. Instinct 
will tell him how to combine the two, 
how long to remain in the sun and how 
long to linger in the shade. He will live 
in such a way as to maintain the high- 
est possible condition of health, and that 
means the best possible condition of fur, 
always. 

Give your hares freedom, air and sun- 
shine and plenty of wholesome food. 
Breed scientifically. Practice grooming, 
with the brush and with the hand, every 
day when preparing specimens for ex- 
hibition, and the best in external appear- 
ance will be the result, supported by a 
constitution which will enable the hare 
to live long enough to £ee from ten to 
fifteen generations of his progeny. Not 
only will he himself have health and 
therefore happiness but his owner as well 
will derive a thousand times greater 
pleasure from his free and robust con- 
dition than he could possibly derive from 
the possession of a weakly specimen, 
too delicate to endure the fresh and in- 
vigorating breezes of heaven. 



58 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



DETERMINING THE SEX IN YOUNG 
HARES. 

It is almost impossible to distinguish 
the sex of a hare before he reaches the 
third or fourth week of his existence 
without going into very minute methods 
of examination. 

To examine him take him by the ears 
and skin of the shoulders with the left 
hand, lay him over on the small of his 
back exposing the parts to a bright 
light. Place the forefinger of the 
right hand on the skin between the 
anus and the tail and the thumb about 
one inch from the finger, and toward 
the abdomen, and press down and out- 
ward, extending the distance between 
the finger and thumb. This will expose 
the parts and in the male a very small 
but round orifice will appear with 
smooth surface of sk.n betwesn this 
orifice and the anus of per- 
haps from one-third to one-half inch 
when at the of four to five weeks. With 
the fsmale there is none of this space 
and the orifice is oblong and apparently 
extends right to the anus and, when 
well stretched, will expose an opening 
about one-fourth to three-eighths of 
an inch in length. 

Amateurs often make mistakes in ex- 
amining hares to determine the sex, 
especially in the very young animals. 
It is well to examine frequently though 
you may have thought that you have 
settled the question the first time. This 
rule should apply especially when mak- 
ing selection at a very young age. 



TO CASTRATE HARES. 

Bucks may be castrated when about 
four months of age. Occasionally a few 
will develop the testicles so that tl.iy 
may be found and removed at about 
three months of age, but as a rule four 
months is the best age. 

An assistant is necessary to perform 
this operation, he taking the hare in his 
lap while seated so as to hold the lap 
on a level, and turning the back of the 



hare towards him and taking a front and 
hind leg in each hand holding the hare 
solid and exposing the parts to the oper- 
ator who stands in front. 

The operator should take the testicle 
lying on tbe left side first, pressing the 
thumb and finger from the abdominal 
cavity back toward the anus, and when 
the skin of the scrotum is well stretched, 
with a single stroke open the scrotum. 
It is necessary to cut deeply enough to 
lay a good-sized opening in the scrotum 
and to do this usually the testicle will 
be laid open more or less. With tbe 
left hand take the testicle from the 
scrotum, drawing it out slowly and 
for something like two or three inches. 
Now, with a knife, remove, or separate, 
the artery and the spermatic cord, cut- 
ting upward and leaving a little, pea- 
like shaped bulb on the end of the sper- 
matic cord, cutting between this bulb and 
th2 testicle proper, allowing the cord 
to drop and return to the scrotum. 

Commence about two inches from the 
testicle to scrape on the sides of the 
artery downwards with the edge of the 
knife, making a light and slow draw- 
ing stroke with the edge of the knife 
and downward, touching the artery a 
little lower or nearer to the scrotum with 
each stroke perhaps a dozen or twenty of 
these little fine cuts with the knife are 
necessary to wear down before severing 
the artery, which should be done well 
down, close to the scrotum. When this 
is well done but little blood will be lost. 
If the artery were cut square off a great 
deal of blood would be lost, probably re- 
sulting in the hare bleeding to death. 

Repeat this operation with the testicle 
lying on the right side and th3 job is 
done. It is not necessary to apply any- 
thing to the parts unless it be in hot 
weather when a little pine tar may be 
applied to the scrotum and surrounding 
edges of the orifice to prevent flies from 
settling upon the parts and blowing. 
Never put water on an open wound in 
a hare. No special treatment or care 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



59 



is necessary before or after this opera- 
tion, excepting when the young bucks 
commence to fight before castrating. 

Often one or two of a litter or penful 
will develop fighting propensities much 
earlier than others and will even make 
cuts and slashes in their companions and 
keep all within their reach in a state of 
fear and more or less feverish. Hares 
should be in a normally healthy condi- 
tion when castrated. This is the mast 
essential feature to look after. Never 
castrate a hare that has a cold or that 
has been severely excited or chased, 
creating a fevered state. 

Take them from their pens quietly 
and carefuUy and remove them for 
some little distance from the pens con- 
taining the other hares who are to under- 
go the same operation, where they will 
not hear the bare if he squeals. Occa- 
sionally one will set up quite a howl 
though this is rare. The hare is an ex- 
tremely senitive excitable animal and 
he may be scared nearly to death with- 
out having been touched. 

Probably 95 per cent, of the hares cas- 
trated at this age will, within three to 
five days after the operation, appear 
as well and natural as before the opera- 
tion. The only difference noticeable is 
their disposition to remain quiet during 
this time. In fact, after being cas- 
trated, they are always quiet and usually 
this operation puts an end to all disposi- 
tion to scrap or cbase another. Cas- 
trated hares will, upon less food, make 
more rapid growth, more flesh and of bet- 
ter quality than the entire specimen will 
furnish, or the does. The operation of 
unsexing a doe is impracticable as it 
is necessary to cut through the perito- 
neum, the inner skin covering the intes- 
tines and holding them in place, and this 
involves great danger. In fact, with 
the hare it is a very difficult matter to 
remove the ovaries and save the life of 
the doe, that is, excepting in the hands of 
an expert of the highest order. There 
are many conditions that the average 



inexperienced person would not be like- 
ly to be able to control. 



DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING. 

There are very many ways of cooking 
the hare and variations to suit the tastes 
of individuals will occur to almost every 
housewife and caterer. We present a 
number of those that we consider the 
best and the most thoroughly tested. 
Hares between three and six months of 
age are the best for cooking but older 
ones are good if they are fattened 
rapidly. An easy way to determine 
whether a specimen, bought dressed, is 
young is to try the jaw between your 
thumb and finger. If this breaks easily 
the hare is a young one. In young hares 
the coat and claws are smooth, but are 
the opposite in older animals. The ears 
of the young may be easily torn. If 
a hare has been killed recently the flesh 
will be dry, white and sweet. If for 
a longer period it will be blue and un- 
attractive in appearance. Most people 
prefer that hares for the table should be 
killed one day before being eaten. 

Hares intended for the table should 
be rather close penned for ten days 
or two weeks before killing and should 
be fed on cured grass, rolled oats, rice, 
a little sugar and scalded milk. If fed 
on coarse and dry food the delicate flavor 
will be lacking. Young bucks caponized 
when two or three months old make 
the best eating. The more rapidly the 
hare is fattened for food the better the 
flavor. Great attention is paid to these 
fine points in the Old World where the 
Belgian has long been the delight of 
epicures. 

To our minds the best way of cooking 
the hare is to steam it in a double cook- 
ing-dish such as those used for making 
delicate puddings, mushes, etc. Add just 
sufficient water to fairly cover the meat. 
Then let it steam for about three hours 
in its own juices, seasoning while cook- 
ing with pepper and salt to taste. Butter 
may be added or the gravy may be 



60 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




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THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



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thickened with flour or cream; the latter 
makes a delicious dressing. Serve hot on 
toast. Prepared in this way the meat 
is very tender and appetizing. This is 
the best way of cooking for invalids, 
as all of the juices are preserved in the 
gravy and the meat is so delicate and 
tender that it is readily digested. No 
other meat dish can be so appetizing 
and at the same time so harmless as 
this one. 

A lady friend of ours has recently 
given us an attractive variation of the 
above by frying the meat, after it 
has been steamed as above directed, to 
a delicate brown in a batter of egg 
and bread crumbs. 



HARE PIE. 
Hare pie is fully as satisfactory as 
chicken pie. Boil for perhaps an hour, 
or until the meat is fairly tender. Pre- 
pare a biscuit crust the same as for 
and old-fashoned chicken pie. Line the 
bottom and sides of a pan with this, 
place the hare and the gravy inside and 
cover with more of the crust. Also in- 
close half a dozen cubes, three of lean 
and three of salt pork, each about two 
inches square. Bake in a quick oven 
from half to three-quarters of an hour or 
until the crust is well browned. For 
those whose digestion is fairly robust 
this is a splendid way to cook the 
hare. 



STEWED HARE 

Should be prepared by boiling two or 
three hours, according to the age of the 
hare, till the flesh drops off the bones; 
thicken the gravy with flour and milk, 
preferably a little cream, and add a piece 
of best butter. Always have consider- 
able water over meat while boiling. An 
abundance of thickened gravy spread 
upon toast makes a dish fit for any 
epicure in the country. 

Mrs. Rorer, the eminent authority on 
cookery, recommends the hare as a deli- 
cate subject for a fricassee. Her direc- 
tions are to first brown butter in a hot 



iron skillet. Then fry the hare brown 
on both sides. Next cover with hot water 
and stew, say for an hour, or until 
thoroughly tender, seasoning to taste. 
At the end of the stewing let the hare 
fry down. This makes a most delicious 
dish and is preferred by many. 



OTHER POPULAR RECIPES. 

Broiled hare: For broiling" use hares 
under four or five months of age and 
therefore tender. Soak for a short time 
in water without salt or soda. Salt 
or soda injures the delicate flavor. Dry 
well with a clean cloth. Gash down the 
back through the thickest portion. Flat- 
ten each hare. Place it on a gridiron 
and broil over a bed of clear coals, turn- 
ing often. Or you may lay them smooth 
on the bottom of a dripping pan, and 
cook in a hot oven without basting. Oil 
the pan slightly with a little sweet 
dripping or a bit of fresh butter. They 
should be done in half an hour. 

Stewed hare: First way, cut the hares 
into joints. Drop into a pot and cover 
with boiling water. Then slice in an 
onion and a bit of bacon, and stew 
slowly one hour, or until tender. As 
old hares are best stewed, it will do 
no harm to put in a young chicken, 
stewing all together. At the end of 
half an hour add a few potatoes, peeled, 
and cut in quarters, and, if liked, some 
small bits of light paste, after the 
potatoes get fairly boiling. When all 
are done stir in a little cream thickened 
with white flour, boil up a moment and 
dish for the table. 

Another stew: Another way, is to 
put into a wide sauce-pan a spoonful 
of dripping, heat it till hot and slice 
in an onion; any sweet herbs, cut fine, 
may also be added. Then lay in a 
couple of hares, cut into joints or whole 
SLi may be desired, cover, and heat 
until they begin to brown. Turn and 
brown again slightly; be very careful 
they do not scorch; then add a cup 
of boiling water, cover closely and stew, 



62 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



or rather simmer one hour, until tender, 
thicken over with browned flour or 
cream and flour, and serve. The gravy 
in the pan from the stew should be 
used to make the dressing. 

A chafing-dish recipe: This is a steam 
process. In this method old or young 
hares may be used. Cut into convenient 
pieces, place in the chafing-dish and 
treat to the steam until the flesh leaves 
the bones by the aid of a steel fork. 
Cover with a rich cream gravy flavored 
with sherry wine to taste. As a food 
for chafing-dish parties there is nothing 
so delicate or digestible as Belgian hare. 
If preferred the hare may be steamed 
until done in a double kettle and placed 
in the chafing-dish only for final prep- 
aration with the gravy and sherry 
wine. 

Fried Belgian: Disjoint and cut uni- 
form pieces, cover with boiling water, 
and let it simmer until quite tender. 
Then remove it carefully to a dry dish. 
Dredge well with flour and drop into 
very hot butter to brown. Serve with 
gravy made from the liquor in which 
it was boiled, and cream. Two table- 
spoonfuls of vinegar added while boil- 
ing is an improvement. A few table- 
spoonfuls of claret add a gaminess to 
the dish. 

Roast hare: Make a dressing of 
fine dry bread-crumbs; part graham 
is best. Add to the crumbs a small 
lump of fresh butter, a little dry sage 
(or other herb, if preferred), and 
moisten well with tepid water, stir- 
ring well as you add it. Do not put 
in too much water; have the dressing 
light and flakey, not wet and heavy. 
The large and delicious liver of the 
hare having been thoroughly steamed, 
will add an unwonted zest if chopped 
into bits and put into the stuffing. 
Fill the hares with this, leaving plenty 
of room for the dressing to swell; 
sew up, put the hares into a dripping- 
pan, add a cup of boiling water, and 
roast as slowly as possible, during the 



first half hour. Baste every fifteen or 
twenty minutes, turning as needed; 
and if any part browns to fast, cover 
it with a clean napkin wet in warm 
water, and folded two or three times. 
Allow from one to two hours for roast- 
ittig; test with a fork, to ascertain 
when the hares are done, take them 
out of the pan and make the gravy; 
drain the grease all off, and set the 
pan on the stove; then put in any tid- 
bits (as the liver, etc.), and the liquor 
in which they are boiled; thicken 
with a little browned flour wet with 
milk or water, and boil up a moment. 

Grilled hare: Take tender young 
Belgians not over four months old. Cut 
down the front, removing any clinging 
thin skin, roll out flat and pat between 
the grilling irons over steady, hot coals, 
basting constantly with butter. A little 
Worcesteshire sauce may be added. If 
properly prepared the flesh is pure 
white. 

"Hare in the blanket:" Take a large 
hare if possible, draw well and rub 
smartly with whatever flavorings in- 
tended. Small slices of thin cut bacon 
may be inserted in the hare as is done 
sometimes in the case of veal loaf. Roll 
the hare in a blanket of pastry, or 
dough which has not enough shorten- 
ing to prevent a good consistency, and 
boil until testing with a fork proves 
the hare to be thoroughly cooked. Drain 
very carefully the juice in which the 
the hare has been cooked and use it in 
making a rich gravy, either in browned 
flour or a flour and cream paste. Port 
wine or old claret, with a few hot con- 
diments impart to the "hare in blanket," 
which is usually not considered a rich 
dish, a most appetizing savour. 

Spanish Method of Cooking. — Slice 
one large onion, one chili pepper, and 
four medium-sized tomatoes into a stew 
pan and bring to a boil. Cut the hare 
into pieces and put into the mixture as 
soon, as it boils. Add one teaspoon of 
salt and enough hot water to cover. When 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



63 



nearly done thicken with flour and add 
butter the size of an egg. 

Roast with Onions. — Have a double 
roaster. Place a layer of onions in the 
bottom of the pan, then a 
layer of the meat. Alternate 
in this way until the pan is 
full. Roast is thoroughly done. With a 
double roaster no water is needed as 
the juices of the meat and the onions 
furnish sufificient moisture. 

Curried Hare. — Cut into joints and 
place in stew pan with two tablespoons 
of drippings or butter and sliced onions 
to suit. Brown well and add a pint of 
soup stock. Mix a tablespoon each of 
flour and curry until smooth in a little 
water; place in pan and add pepper and 
salt, a teaspoon of mushroom powder; 
let simmer for an hour or so. Add juice 
of half a lemon and a little parsley. 
Serve with boiled rice piled around it 
at side of platter. Water instead of stock 
may be used if the latter is not at hand. 

Potted Hare. — Cut in pieces and place 
in stone jar. Fill the space between 
meat pieces with veal and bacon, a 
pound each, cut to dice; mix with liver 
of hare, also cut fine; add a tabhspoon- 
ful each of mace, cloves and black pep- 
per and salt. Place thin slices of bacon 
on top, and a bay leaf if liked. Cover 
with a lid of plain paste made of flour 
and water. Set the jar in pan or pot 
containing water and bake in slow oven. 
Keep from burning by placing a greased 
paper over the paste. Put no water to 
the meat. When done set away to cool, 
then pound pieces of the hare, veal and 
bacon to a paste, mix in gravy from the 
bottom when boiled almost dry. Add 
more seasoning if needed. Press solid 
into cups or small jugs, covering top 
with melted butter, and set away in a 
cool place. 

Jugged Hare. — Cut in pieces and sea- 
son with pepper and salt, fry brown and 
season with a little thyme and chopped 
parsley, nutmeg, cloves, mace, grated 
lemon peel, and add a couple of an- 
chovies. Place a layer of the pieces in- 
to a wide-mouthed jar, then a layer of 



thinly sliced bacon and so on with al- 
ternate layers. Add two gills of water, 
cover and put in cold water, boiling 
three or four hours. Remove the jar, 
take out the unmelted bacon and make 
a gravy of a little butter, flour and 
ketchup. Some add a little grated lemon 
peel. 

Minced Belgian.— Take sharp knife, 
slice the meat thin, and chop it fine. 
Then crack the bones, put them into a 
pot with the neck or any remaining 
portions, nearly cover with cold water, 
and simmer half an hour. Strain the 
liquor, thicken and use it as a dressing. 
When half cold put in the minced hare; 
if the mixture is not wet enough, add 
a little cream or milk. Cover the pot, 
and heat slowly till it is ready to boil; 
stir rarely. Lift from the fire and pour 
the stew over a plate of stale biscuits 
split op;n and crisped in a hot oven. 

The Liver. — The liver is a delicious 
tidbit cooked in a hundred different ways. 
Uusually it is remarkably sweet and 
wholesome. On account of its large 
size it makes an excellent pate de fois 
gras. The liver can be cooked in any of 
the ways recommended for the tidbits 
of chicken or turkey. 

BELGIAN HARE BAKED. 
Take two hares over three months of 
age, laying them down, baste the two 
under sides together and fill with a 
dressing made from bread crumbs sea- 
soned to taste, with sage, salt, pepper 
and a liberal slice of butter. Moisten 
with hot water, as it will mix nicely, 
being careful not to get it too wet, then 
lay in thin slices of salt pork and sew 
upper sides together, lard with 
long strips of the pork, or if 
you have not a larding needle, 
lay the strips of pork over the hares and 
tie them to their place. This is to keep 
the juices from escaping. Lay the hares 
in a double bake-pan, sprinkle with salt 
and pepper, fill the pan half full of boil- 
ing water, cover up and bake for three 
hours in a stove oven not removing the 
cover until ready to serve. Pour the 



64 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



grease from the gravy and thicken. A 
capon six to ten months old is better 
than a young hare prepared this way. 



BELGIAN HARE FRIED. 
To fry, use young hares nine to twelve 
weeks old, fry out salt pork. (Do not 
use lard.) Add half butter, salt and 
pepper the hare to taste, flour well and 
lay in the hot grease and butter, brown 
nicely on both sides, then add half a 
tea cup of boiling water and cover 
closely, and cook for at least one hour, 
adding more water as needed. Let it 
cook down but not fry too dry. Take out 
and make a good milk gravy, properly 
seasoned, and you never ate a finer dish 
in your life. 

DRESSING THE HARE FOR MARKET. 

Care should be exercised in catching 
hares to kill for table use. They are 
very active and will jump with great 
force. If they happen to strike the sides 
of the pen or any other object they will 
frequently bruise the flesh severely. Oft- 
en large clots of blood will form on 
the shoulders and sides as a result of 
these bruises. These clots must be ab- 
sorbed by the healthy blood, if the hare 
is not killed at once, and so carried 
out of the system. If they are not ab- 
sorbed they will poison all of the blood 
and will also render the flesh very un- 
wholesome food, often resulting in death 
to the animal. All pens in which hares 
intended for the market are confined 
should be arranged with a gate at one 
end so that the hares may be run into 
a space three or four feet square and 
caught without injury. To kill them, 
hold by the hind legs and strike a quick 
blow on the back of the neck. This 
stuns the animal and his throat may 
then be cut and the hare allowed to bleed 
thoroughly. 

After striking the hare behind tlie 
ears with the hand or a small stick, 
you may either cut his throat or cut 
his head entirely off with an ax or 
cleaver. The latter method is probably 
the easier for most people. Hang the 



carcass by the gamble-cords, just as a 
butcher would hang and stretch a beef 
or a sheep, to two nails or a wooden bar 
made for the purpose. 

Now slit the skin from gamble to 
gamble, near to the tail, or directly up 
and down the edges of the thighs. Free 
the skin from the hock joints and turn 
it over wrong side out and downwards. 
Go slow until you have reached the mid- 
dle of the body. Part the fat from the 
skin leaving the fat on the carcass. Use 
a knife to separate the fat from the skin. 
Cut the pelvic bone and open all the way 
down to the end of the neck. Remove 
the entrails and the feet. Wash the 
flesh and the dressing is done. Allow 
the flesh to cool, and if it is intended 
for market wrap it with new cheese- 
cloth, and pin this or use round-pointed 
tooth-picks as skewers. Before wrapping 
wipe thoroughly dry and remove all 
blood to avoid staining the wrapping 
cloth. Always remove the feet at the 
hock and at the knee joints. 

Never peddle live hares from house to 
house or take them to market until you 
have received an order for them. This 
is the most unsatisfactory manner of dis- 
posing of any marketable commodity. 
By dressing the hare yourself you save 
the pelts and, where the business is 
conducted on a large scale, these amount 
to a large sum in the course of a year. 
They make beautiful buggy robes and 
rugs. Sixteen pelts will make a robe 
that will sell at from $20 to $25, and six 
will make a splendid rug. Many other 
articles for home use could be made from 
them. 

When you once get a customer for 
hares he is very likely to be permanent 
and arrangements can be made for a 
weekly supply to families. First-class 
hotels and many restaurants will con- 
sume them by the hundred. Europeans 
and Americans who have lived abroad 
prefer the flesh of the hare to that of 
any other animal. 

To frighten hares, or to cause them 
to run only a few minutes from fright, 
produces a change in the lungs shown 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



65 



by a mottled color. This is due to ob- 
structed circulation, resulting from over- 
exertion or fear, or both. The natural 
color is a uniform pink or a very light 
red. At all times hares should be hand- 
led very gently, and any person enter- 
ing their pens should be very quiet and 
moderate in his movements so as not to 
startle them. 



RESERVE THE PELTS. 

The skins of the Belgians are worth 
from 25 to 50 cents each in the market, 
the value depending somewhat upon lo- 
cality and consequent demand. They 
make handsome robes and rugs, capes, 
etc., when properly cut and made up. 
It is not difficult to make these articles 
at home and use or sell. Here is a new 
field for home industry for womenfolk. 
In this way the pelts bring from $1 to $2 
each. 



A WORD AS TO SHIPPING. 

Buyers should insist that dealers ship 
stock in roomy cages open on the sides 
and top, inclosed with wire netting, so 
that when they are stacked up, one 
above the other as they often are, in 
express cars, the hares may have some 
chance to get sufficient air. If this is 
not done they are likely either to suf- 
focate on the way or to get heated and 
then chilled, taking cold as a result. We 
manufacture a crate for this purpose 
which has met the universal approval of 
buyers, dealers and express agents, all 
of whom are interested parties. The bus- 
iness of shipping hares to all parts of the 
country has now reached such propor- 
tions that the express companies insist 
upon the use of suitable cages, which 
they return to shippers at reduced 
rates. Each cage should be sup- 
plied with grain and hay, also with 
a dish of water which will be filled from 
time to time by the express agents. Tin 
cups are as good as anything both for 
feed and water as they may be attached 
to the wire mesh and are thus out of the 
way and not likely to become fouled. 

For bringing importations from Eng- 



land and for shipping hares to long dis- 
tances in this country we have invented 
and patented a circular cage that has 
great advantages. This cage is seven 
and a half feet in circumference, made 
of wire with an outside covering of can- 
vas, which may be adjusted to prevent 
draughts. It is made in sections and a 
greater or less number may be used as 
desired. Through the center a cone 
passes, which is to be filled with suf- 
ficient food for a long journey. Each 
hare has plenty of air and room for exer- 
cise. He may travel round and round 
going miles every day if he wishes. 
These cages are self-cleaning and in 
every way the best for the purpose. Our 
hares, imported in these cages, made 
the long journey and arrived at Los 
Angeles in the pink of condition, alert 
and active as a bird and fit to go at 
once on the exhibition table, a gratify- 
ing contrast with the numerous im- 
portations in which nothing but dead or 
dying hares have been delivered to the 
unfortunate buyers. 

The most careful attention should be 
given to this phase of the industry. 
Observation will confirm the truth of the 
statement that hares, from the tiny 
youngster six or eight weeks of age up 
to the oldest of breeding stock, are not 
a little excited when the attempt is 
made to crate and move them. This 
excitability intensifies respiration making 
it necessary that the hare should have 
abundance of air and, at the same time, 
be protected from strong draughts. 

The cage that is best suited to ship 
a hare in is one that will allow him to 
stretch out at full length, to sit up as is 
his custom in his pen, and to make at 
least one hop in some one direction, either 
in a circle or straight ahead. The ne- 
cessity for space to move in is greater 
than at first might appear. With no 
exercise the hares often become paralyzed 
with only a few days' journey. 

As a rule, a hare consumes but little 
food en route, especially if it be his first 



66 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



experience in traveling. Through tim- 
idity or excitability he foregoes eating 
and, except in extremely hot weather, he 
will abstain from drinking. The crate 
should always be protected by a cover 
that will shed water for often in trans- 
ferring from one car to another, the 
crates are allowed to stand on platforms, 
and, during a storm, this exposure to 
wet often endangers the life of the ani- 
mal. The hare is decidedly averse to 
water, excessive sun, heat and strong 
currents of wind. 

Bear this in mind in all arrangements 
and the greatest risk in transit will be 
avoided. The supply of food should cor- 
respond precisely with that which it 
has been the custom of the hare to en- 
joy. Do not make radical changes on 
any occasion. Always furnish dry litter 
— sawdust or straw for bedding. This 
makes a cushion as well as an absorbent 
and tends to make the hare feel more 
at home. 

Fasten to the sides of the crate little 
bales of hay and always furnish at least 
two cups to each compartment, one for 
grain and one for water, and supply a 
sufficient quantity of grain in a little 
sack attached to the side of the crate 
for the hare. Express messengers are 
often overworked and have but a mo- 
ment's time when they happen to think 
of caring for the hares en route and 
every convenince should be afforded the 
messenger to insure reasonably good care 
of the hares. 

Another, and one of the most im- 
portant points to be observed, is to place 
a card upon the crate with this in- 
scription: 
"To Express Messenger: 

"This hare is a valuable animal. Please 
do not give him ice water, as it is cer- 
tain to harm him and may cause his 
death. Kindly let the water stand and 
become warm, then give a moderate 
quantity, if possible, three times a 
day." 

Many valuable hares have been 



lost while crossing the desert 
because of being given ice water 
to drink. If hares have grass, etc., it 
is proper to supply the same, attached 
to the side of the crate but, otherwise, 
do not include any in the equipment 
of the crate with food for the journey. 



CARING FOR HARES ON ARRIVAL 
AFTER A JOURNEY. 
It often happens that hares have been 
sadly neglected en route, especially when 
they have been on the road for several 
days. It is always best to limit the 
supply of food and liquid for the first 
three or four days after arrival, other- 
wise the hare may do himself an in- 
jury and bring on, a bad bowel com- 
plaint or fever and a bad condition of the 
stomach that will produce evil results, 
especially if the hare be a doe and with 
young. The proper course for a shipper 
is to inform the new owner of the speci- 
men as to the kinds of food to which 
the hare is accustomed that a radical 
change may be avoided. 



KEEP A COMPLETE RECORD. 

An effective and systematic record 
should be kept of the breeding of every 
animal in your rabbitry. There are 
many devices for this purpose and most 
people will establish such a record as 
suits their individual fancy. The record 
may be kept both by number and by 
name, or simply by name, as preferred. 
Numbering has the additional advantage 
of always showing the sum total of 
the product of the rabbitry at any 
given time. 

A record similar to the following should 
be kept of all of the matings, giving the 
number and, if any, the name of both 
doe and buck, the date of mating, the 
date of testing, the time when the litter 
is due, and any remarks that may be in- 
teresting for future reference. Each 
breeding doe should have this record at- 
tached to her hutch, showing her name 
and number, to avoid possibilities of 
errors. Each time that she is bred 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



67 



and litter weaned, another card should 
te attached, a duplicate of the record, 
stating the facts in brief; namely, the 
date, number and name of buck, etc. 
This affords a ready means of reference 
and saves hunting up the record in the 
more permanent record book. 

Of course, every breeder will keep a 
day-book and ledger in the ordinary 
style of books of account for any busi- 
ness. This will show not only the ag- 
gregate profit from the rabbitry, but 
the record of each breeding buck c/nd doe; 
for a ledger account should be opened 
with each promising member of the 
rabbitry. 

Following is an illustration of a con- 
venient form for pen card: 



BREEDING PRIZE WINNERS. 

There are certain fundamental prin- 
ciples always to be borne in mind in 
mating hares so as to produce a progeny 
better than the parents, with the idea of 
improving one's strains or of securing 
exhibition specimens. 

If you expect good results in this direc- 
tion, you must never go at the breeding 
proposition haphazard, but must have a 
definite object in view and must aim 
to have the qualities of the sire and 
dam so blended that where the one is de- 
ficient the other may be able to supply 
that deficiency. A breeder should know 
what his hares are likely to transmit, 
for the hare hands down to his descend- 



Name animal 


No. of pen 


Sire 


Dam 


Dropped 


Served by 


Princess 
Date 


30 
Tested 


King Philip 
Kindled 


Qneen Anne 
No. of Litter 


May 1st, '97 
No. Raised 


Uncle Sam 
Weaned Litter 


July 4th, -98 


Jul3- 7-8-11-13 


Aug-. 4th, '98 


10 


10 


Sept. 18th. 



FORM FOR A PEDIGREE. 

It may be that you will have partic- 
ularly choice stock with which you will 
wish to give a pedigree when sold, or 
when placed on exhibition. The follow- 
ing is an extended form of tabulated 
pedigree : 



ants, both good and bad qualities with 
remarkably certainty. 

For this purpose you must know the 
pedigrees of your hares and the quali- 
ties, desirable or otherwise, belonging 
to each family. The longer the good 
qualities have been bred into a family, 



Bonanza Prince. 



Bonanza Gold Leaf. 

Bred by Elmer L. 

Piatt, Bonanza Rab- 

biirv. Los Ang-eles, 

Cal." Dropped Jan. 3d, I Gold Belle. 

1898. Weight at 8 

months, lO^i lbs. 



f Superior. 

I 



. Belle of Belgium 



f Perfection 



[Valley Belle. 



i Shakespeare 
I Queen Anne 
( King of Belgium 
( Pride of Belgium 

( Lord Bacon 
( Victoria 
I Diamond Chief 
/ Jewel of Belffium 



68 



THE BONANZA RABBITKY MANUAL. 



the more certain is any individual of that 
family to transmit them. Hence the 
value of pedigree, because a family that 
has long been noted for certain qualities 
is likely to continue noted for those 
same qualities. 

The score card will be found of ines- 
timable value in this direction, for it 
affords a ready means of comparing both 
the good qualities and the deficiencies of 
sires and dams. For instance, you have 
a doe that you desire to breed to produce 
better stock. Suppose that she is some- 
what deficient in ticking. On no account 
should you mate her with a buck that 
is also deficient in ticking. Select one 
that has on over-supply, if anything. If 
your does is light in her hind feet, get 
a buck with as red hind feet as is pos- 
sible for you to procure. And so on 
down through the list of the twenty- 
nine sections into which the score card, 
following the Standard of Excellence, is 
divided. 

If you have originality enough to 
strike out for yourself and to follow an 
ideal of your own you may be fortunate 
enough to secure some very striking 
specimens that will make your reputa- 
tion. It is possible, by judicious selec- 
tion, keeping always the same end in 
view, to emphasize almost any quality. 
But you must be careful lest, in seeking 
for some one thing, you go too far and 
sacrifice that all-round excellence with- 
out which a high score is impossible. 

Two things are always to be borne in 
mind, namely, form and color. These 
are the foundations of all the points in 
the Standard of Excellence. A good brood 
doe is always sound colored, that is, her 
fur everywhere is rich and strong, with 
plenty of life and fire in it. Never 
use a doe that has a gray or washed- 
out appearance. She should be of good 
size, long in body, but not heavily built. 
The legs of the doe should be especially 
fine and long. If the doe's legs are 
heavy and short, the young are certain to 
follow her in these respects. The same 



fact applies in the symmetry of the 
back and loins. Color of the hind feet, 
ticking and lacing should be carefully 
considered. The hind feet should be of 
a deep red all around the leg and up to 
the hock joint. The ticking should be 
plentiful and wavy. The finer and leaner 
the head of the doe the better, and the 
eyes should be large and full. 

The popular color for bucks at stud is 
a rich rufus-red, lightly ticked. 
This should run strong down the 
sides and haunches. The forelegs 
should be well colored and free 
from ticking and the hind legs as rich 
in color as it is possible to get. Never 
use a buck that has poor hind feet. Sym- 
metry is a point of great importance 
in the buck. If he lacks grace and form 
his progeny will also be lacking. Heavi- 
ness or chopp'ness of the head is a fea- 
ture especially liable to be transmitted 
and it is therfore especially desirable 
that the buck should be fine and clear- 
cut about the head. 

In choosing foundation stock, you 
should be careful to select well-mated 
specimens along the lines here suggested. 
If you lack the experience or the oppor- 
tunity to do this, then send to some re- 
putable dealer, state yoiu needs fully to 
him and have him make a selection for 
you. The foundation stock will be here- 
after of greater and greater importance 
in this country, for the time has gone 
by for taking poor stock and trying to 
upbulid a better strain by long and tedious 
experiments. There is too much good 
stock in the country now, and the man 
who attempts to establish a rabbitry 
by this means will starve to death while 
his more enterprising competitors are 
covering the field. Therefore make sure 
that the stock with which you commence 
is the very best procurable. 

The greatest source of pleasure and 
profit, next to possession of fine speci- 
mens, lies in the success achieved through 
one's efforts to produce specimens su- 
perior to those already possessed. The 
fascination of this pursuit is best illus- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



trated by the earnestness and the lavi-h 
outlay of money and time expended by 
fanciers on all classes of domestic live 
stock throughout the world, from the tiny 
canary to the ponderous draft horse. 
This is the art that is least considered, 
least studied and least practiced by the 
fanciers of the Belgian hare in this coun- 
try. Yet it is one in which all take 
an intense interest when once they have 
gathered a knowledge of the fundamental 
principles underlying the art of scientific 
mating to produce specimens approaching 
the ideal of perfection. 

It is a fact that "like begets like," 
or like some ancestor, and this likeness 
to some ancestor may be carried back 
to the third and fourth, and even the 
fifth and sixth, generation. This is a 
point that is little understood and little 
attention is paid to it, and it is here that 
we find the greatest value in the lineage 
as recorded by the system of pedgreeing 
and registering animals. 

This system of recording should define 
mjany of the qualities of the foundation 
stock that one employs upon which to 
build a herd of ideal specimens. The 
score card fills this want to a great ex- 
tent, though, perhaps, a more extended 
record of their qualities than is men- 
tioned in tbe score card would be of great 
assistance. This might be defined by 
measurements of the various sections 
establishing an ideal that could be ex- 
plained in a figure chart and could be 
communicated on paper. 

Before one can achieve practical re- 
sults he must have established in his 
minds eye the ideal that be is aiming 
to produce, and, with this established, 
he can aim with some degree of cer- 
tainty of hitting the mark. Now, we 
are prepared to discuss the various 
qualities of the specimens before us. 
First we will start out with specimens 
that are rated today as possessing qual- 
ities equal to 90 or 91 points. Th^se 
we will define as our does for the foun- 
dation stock. Now, if you mate these 
does with a buck who will score no 



more, but just about the same, and save 
the females from each succeeding gen- 
eration and mate them with a buck 
that, though not akin, is of only equal 
rating and quality, you can proceed in 
this course without any reference to se- 
lecting the best from the produce of these 
matings for years and years, and you 
will probably fetch up at the end of a 
quarter century with stock of just about 
the same quality, and a good many will 
go down the scale. Only a very few 
will ascend the ladder, but the majority 
will remain in just the same scale of 
quality, and there will be little or no 
difference — at least not enough, to make 
any material difference in the cash value 
of the stock. 

But take these 91 point does and a 
buck who is already up in the standard 
93% or 94% points, and by selecting the 
best females from this mating and 
breeding them to another buck not akin 
and of same quality as their sire, you 
may produce a vast improvement in 
two generations. Then the best does 
selected from this last mating and mated 
with a buck scoring 95 points would 
enable us to ascend the ladder. Again, 
mating the does from the last mating 
to a buck of equal quality to their sire 
would establish in their progeny the 
qualities of their sire and grandsire to a 
great certainty, at least the majority 
would be of the high-type specimens. 
Now, by selecting tbe best of these does 
and mating with a buck superior, we 
again ascend the ladder towards per- 
fection. 

Now, to keep up this point, it is only 
by selection, or the art of choosing both 
males and females that possess the 
greatest number of all-round good points 
that we can maintain our ground. Un- 
less we do this retrogression is likely 
to follow. The progeny of a doe will 
never be superior to the dam unless they 
are sired by a buck that is superior to 
the dam. He is worth as much as all 
the does that he can mate with, say 
twenty to twenty-five. 




BLOOMING HEATHER. 

Imported by Bonanza Rabbitry, December 3rd, 1899; age 1 vear, weig-ht 8 lbs. Half-brother to our 
g-reat Champion Fashoda, sire Champion Edinboro, dam by Champion Malton Mystery. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



71 



The best buck in the world is worth 
this much if he cannot be bad for less. 
The only point is to be sure that he is 
the best and then get him at any price. 
This is the logical course for the true 
and scientific fancier to pursue. Now, 
for individual specimens, take a doe that 
scores 94 points and say that she is cut 
1^4 points on ear-lacing. Had she es- 
caped this cut she would have made 
a score of 95%, which is an exception- 
ally high mark. Suppose that she is 
cut one-half on shape of front leg, 
which might have been saved, than she 
would have reached the score of 95%. 
Supposing, again, that she were cut one- 
half for lack of color on sides and 
could have saved this, and this would 
have made 96^/4. Now with a cut of 
one-half for hindquarters, if saved, it 
would have made 96% points. Now, 
these are points that can be overcome 
to a great extent by selection of the 
buck to mate with these does. In the 
first place find a buck with fine length 
of body and limb and whose markings 
are as good as those of tb3 doe, or 
nearly so, and who scores as much as 
she, but, in addition has perfect ear 
lacing, if it is possible to find him, 
or one that will come as near as pos- 
sible to perfection in this respect — say 
with a cut of not more than one-fourth. 
From this mating we are likely to get a 
few of the youngsters who will be as 
good as their sire and perhaps one or two 
whose ears will be absolutely perfect. 
Now mate the females from this mating 
with another buck, who will establish 
the perfection of lacing in the next gen- 
eration, being guarded to improve upon 
other qualities, such as shape of front 
foot, color of sides, etc., if possible. That 
is, gain on as many points as possible 
in each mating, for a certainty on one 
and that the one which is the weakest. 
In this way we ascend the ladder through 
each succeeding generation as high as it 
is possible to go, bearing in mind the 
importance of overcoming the greatest 
weakness possessed by the does with 



each mating. This theory applies to all 
othsr sections, as well a those enumer- 
ated. 

To enable one to arrive at a correct 
understanding of the style and quality 
of the ideal specimen of the Belgian 
hare it is necessary that he first learn 
the requirements as dsfned by tte 
American Standard of Ex:elhn:e :for 
Belgian hares and thoroughly familiarize 
himself with this, which may be ac- 
complished by a general acquaintance 
with the score card system of defining 
the Standard of Excellence. 

It is not to be presumed that one can, 
from the study of this Standard of 
Excellence and score card, acquire a 
technical knowledge or delineation of the 
twenty-nine sections of the hare as ex- 
plained by this. 

There is a necessity for a course of 
instruction furnished by a competent 
instructor in person. The various 
shades of color and shape of the twenty- 
nine sections of the hare necessitates 
an ocular and personal description to 
be able to impart skill in judging the 
hare. However, sufficient information 
can be gained from the Standard of Ex- 
cellence and score card to enable one to 
accomplish a great deal in the way 
of selection for mating to breed up to- 
ward the ideal type. 

On analysis of the Standard of Ex- 
cellence which may be found in the 
score card, we find four important fea- 
tures, namely: size, shape, color, and 
quality. The Standard defines eight 
pounds as a reasonable weight and one 
which it is easy to obtain. This should 
be our starting point. 

For a lack of weight a punishment 
is given the specimen. For an ex- 
cessive weight there is no punishment 
so far as weight goes. The point to 
be borne in mind in connection with 
large specimens is "quality." 

Could we have a specimen that would 
weigh ten pounds with quality equal 
to an eight-pound specimen certainly 
the ten-pound animal would |be the 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



better. The old axoim, "size, quality 
being equal, is the measure of power" 
holds good with the hare, not in a 
physical sense but in a monetary one. 
Without a doubt the day is not far 
distant when the fancier will value a 
ten-pound specimen scoring 96 points 
at least double that of an eight-pound 
specimen making the same score. The 
nice, tiny thing is a pleasure but the 
magnificent large specimen of animated 
life affords greater pleasure and great- 
est profit to its owner. Therefore, never 
sacrifice size, at least to lower the stand- 
ard weight, in your selection for either 
young stock or to produce finer types. 

True it is that the fine large speci- 
men is a rarity but from the few in 
existence it is possible to secure a 
starter from which to produce. 

Next we will refer to shape. An 
eight-pound hare moulded after the 
shape of a lump of putty would have 
no attraction whatever though he might 
be just as good eating and his pelt 
might make just as good a cap, cape, 
or muff. Nevertheless a harmony of one 
section to another, which we term sym- 
metry and which is found in the ideal, 
the English wild hare, invites the ad- 
miration of all lovers of grace of move- 
ment in animals. 

By studying the Standard of Ex- 
cellence the ideal as to shape may be 
fixed in the mind's eye and the values 
of the various portions as defined by the 
score card give to one the key to this 
situation. In selection for mating, com- 
pare the doe with the idea which you 
may, by persistent study, decide in your 
mind to be the ideal. If your doe be 
short of coupling, short of limb, and 
round and chubby in body, instead of 
long and thin, if she has heavy and 
deep jaws instead of being narrow in 
the head, never mate her to a buck pos- 
sessing these same undesirable qualities 
to the same degree that the doe pos- 
sesses them. In these points the buck 
should be as much superior to the doe 



as is possible to get, so that you may 
improve upon her in her progeny. Then, 
by the selection of the best does from 
this mating and breeding them to a 
buck still superior to them in these 
particular sections, each succeeding gen- 
eration will be an improvement upon 
the foundation stock and be a nearer 
appoach to the ideal. 

This applies to the other sections as 
the course that should be pursued to 
enable one to breed up toward the 
ideal. 

Again, taking up color. The Stand- 
ard of Excellence calls for the rich, 
rufus-red. If the doe possesses little 
of the rufus-red, which will be shown 
most distinctly on the back of the neck, 
then this lack of richness will be more 
or less manifested in other sections of 
the body, and in lieu of the red there 
will be a tendency to smoky under- 
color when the hair is blown open along 
the back and upper sides. The nearest 
possible to a light, or delicate blue, 
tint of color on the hair next to the 
skin is usually found with the richest 
of specimens. In an instance where the 
rich rufus-red is lacking, instead of this 
delicate tinted blue is found a dark, 
smoky color especially on the hind- 
quarters and often on the sides nearest 
to the white line defining sides and 
belly. 

To improve upon the weakness in this 
particular, use for a buck to mate with 
the doe one possessing the lightest of 
tints next to the skin on the hind- 
quarters and sides and also the nearest 
to the rich, rufus-red on the back of 
the neck and throughout the body that 
is possible to get. Often this darkest 
under-color on the top of the body is 
associated w;ith a superabundance of 
ticking, and vice versa, the reddest of 
animals rarely possess sufficient ticking. 
Here is a field for the student and an 
opportunity for one to use his skill in 
producing ideal types, as defined by the 
Standard of Excellence. From this mat- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



73 



ing there will be an improvement over 
the doe and sometimes a beautiful 
specimen will crop out in the first mat- 
ing where the buck is of the high-type 
class though the doe may be only pass- 
ably good, but succeeding matings will 
be required to establish the prepotency 
of a specimen. This same rule applies 
to color in other sections, the golden- 
tan of the ear, the beautiful band of 
black ear lacing, on the edge of the 
ear, and the strictly rich, rufus-red front 
and hind feet, front feet and legs free 
from ticking, hind feet free from smudge 
on the outer lower side and from white 
on the upper inner side. The hind foot 
is that portion which rests upon the 
ground and is about five or six inches 
long. 

Now the last section is quality. Short, 
situbby front legs are usually found 
with very coarse bones, short, blocky 
or choppy bodied specimens, broad heads, 
heavy, deep jaw-bones, thick ears, thick, 
loose skin, flabby or soft flesh go in 
under the head of coarseness. A doe 
having these defects may be mated to 
the longest bodied, best rounded arch 
and smoothest hindquarters and small 
boned front leg, satin-like coat of hair, 
thin and firmly set ears, firm-fleshed 
buck possible to obtain and a vast im- 
provement will be made in the progeny 
of the first mating. Again, saving the 
best of the females from this mating 
and breeding these up to another buck 
of the high-type class there will be a 
very great advancement. 

In these selections for mating, combine 
all these qualities in the buck, size, 
shape, color and quality and when these 
are also combined in the doe then you 
may look for a uniform product, that 
is, each and every one of the litter will 
be as good as or better than, their 
sire and dam. 

This is the short cut way to pro- 
ducing the ideal or the exhibition type 
of hare when supply is procurable. One 
unacquainted with the technical know- 



ledge of the Standard of Excellence 
and score card can best serve his pur- 
pose in this direction by either em- 
ploying an expert breeder and judge to 
choose for him his foundation stock, 
buck or does best suited to mate with 
the possible stock, one or the other of 
which he may have, or order his does 
bred with such a purpose in view, or 
order his specimens so that they shall 
be adapted to this purpose. 



REGISTRATION. 

A system of registration for Belgian 
bares is as imperative as is method in 
any business. The merchant without his 
system of books would be unable to de- 
termine at any time whether or not he 
was progressing or losing money in his 
business. A part of the system of books 
IS an inventory or invoice department. 
rJy the various departments of his sys- 
tem he may, at any time, locate his 
property in his store, and this while 
light at his desk without a promiscuous, 
wild-goose chase over his store or shop 
lor this or that and the other class of 
goods. 

Shipping merchants the world over are 
obligea to register their craft, and, with- 
out this system of registration, con- 
tusion in commerce on the seas would 
reign and the tangle could never be un- 
ravelled. 

And again, the railroad interests and 
the street-car companies are unable to 
transact business without a system of 
registration of some kind. With them 
names or numbers are employed to des- 
ignate their locomotives or cars. With- 
out a system of registrations and certif- 
icates of title our landholdings would 
be not only vaJuless but a source of 
eternal contention. 

The same reasoning applies to the hu- 
man family. I Without a system of reg- 
istration of births and deaths and with- 
out names and without the Great Reg- 
ister for regulation in voting where 
would the world be? To transact bus- 



74 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



iness would be simply impossible and we 
would be on a level with the wild beasts, 
cattle and horses of the mountains and 
plains. 

The registration of live stock implies 
painstaking methods in the selection of 
the breeding animals, and without a sys- 
tem on registration the up-building of 
a breed of live stock will never result. 
Instances furnishing evidence to substan- 
tiate this view occasionally occur in every 
community. Occasionally a herd of Short- 
horns, Jerseys, Holsteins, or blooded horses 
are for sale, but, for some unaccountable 
reason, the registration papers are lack- 
ing. The result is invariably that this 
stock brings, at either a private sale or 
public auction, only 1-4 and sometimes 
1-8 as much as it would have brought 
had the registration been kept complete 
and progressive breeders almost invari- 
ably regret this. 

Though an animal be ever so high in 
individual excellence, yet if he cannot 
be indentified with a strain of blood 
which has gained notoriety on the field 
of contest for speed or in the exhibition 
arena of the fat-stock show or the 
Dairymen's Association, it possesses but 
little more value than its wild companion 
roaming the ranges. A Jersey cow would 
never bring $500, though she gave forty- 
eight pounds of milk a day and made 
four pounds of butter a day, unless it 
could be established by her pedigree and 
this substantiated by the register that 
she was a thoroughbred and had descend- 
ed from a family noted for great per- 
formances in the dairy. 

History, with domestic live stock is 
a parallel illustration with the record 
of the genealogy of the human family, 
and with domestic live stock this his- 
tory is the herd register. 

Registration is the custom and has 
from the beginning of civilization, been 
the custom. It simply remains for those 
interested in any branch of business to 
adopt a system or recording the iden- 
tity of their property or to proceed along 
a hit-or-miss, go-as-you-please style. 



With the Belgian-hare fancier, only a 
moment's thought is necessary to con- 
vince him of the importance of a system 
of registration for hares. A retrospec- 
tive view of the industry in any neigh- 
borhood dating back over a period of 
only six months or a year reveals con- 
fusion nigh unto that of the Tower of 
Babel. And here is an illustration of 
this. 

Smith buys a buck from Denver par- 
ties, this buck being sired by Champion 
Yukon. This sire having become famous, 
Jones who lives a short distance from 
Denver, realizes that popularity helps a 
man sell stock, so he christens an old- 
time, American-bred doe, possessing lit- 
tle or no merit, as Madam Yukon. 
Neighbor Smith inquires of Jones, 
the owner of Madam Yukon, for 
prices. The prices quoted by Jones are 
about three-fourths as high as those 
quoted by the owner of the original and 
and genuine Yukon. Smith believes that 
he is getting Yukon blood and at three- 
fourths the price quoted by the genuine 
Yukon owner so he makes a purchase of 
Jones and both Smith and Jones ad- 
vertise their bucks as of the Yukon 
strain. 

Smith No. 2., in another part of the 
town, finds that Smith No. i has a fine 
buck named "Smith's Yukon." He can- 
not see any difference between one Smith 
and another Smith, so he, too, christens 
a buck "Smith's Yukon." Then we will 
find this chain of circumstances and con- 
ditions repeated all along the line. One 
party chooses a name and advertises a 
buck out of Mayflower, and right away, 
within a few days, another party will 
spring an advertisement and claim to 
have a litter for sale from Mayflower, 
and the using of these names has been 
repeated as many as six or eight times 
within a radius of two or three hundred 
miles from a given center. 

Another instance: A has a doe that 
has proven to be a remarkably good 
breeder. He names her and she gains a 
reputation for producing fine specimens. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



75 



especially bucks. As soon as this becomes 
known B will christen a doe by the 
same name that A's doe bears, 
and, in consequence, the ama- 
teurs are misled and one twenty 
miles in one direction, buys a 
buck from one of these does and believes 
that he is getting something grand, hav- 
ing learned a little something about the 
famous breeding doe owned by A. Later 
on he learns that he has been misled 
and that he is injured, B who succeeds 
in establishing quite a demand for his 
youngsters, all upon the strength of the 
reputation gained by A for his crack 
doe, finds the demand in excess of the 
supply, and his seven bucks in the lit- 
ter is extended up to twelve and thirteen 
and he has at the same time something 
like eight or ten does left in the same 
litter. 

Registration and affidavits of pedigree 
would obviate this at least to a great ex- 
tent. True it is that occasionally a man 
will be found who will take his oath be- 
fore God and man, and perjure himself 
by so doing, but such men are few and 
far between. Properly managed regis- 
tration would require sworn affidavits 
and the application sets forth exact dates 
of birth, and by whom specimen was 
bred, and by whom the sire and dam for 
generations back were bred, and the date 
of birth for these same ancestors. It 
would also require the report of sales 
and time and to whom sold, and in this 
way, and this way alone, can anything 
like an honoralbe system of dealing and 
the avoidance of confusion be forced upon 
the majority of hare breeders. 

A complete system with rigid reqiure- 
ments from breeders is the only safe- 
guard against imposition, downright 
fraud, and deterioration of the stock. 
Registration, artfully designed, accu- 
rately compiled, and religiously enforced, 
affords an unerring guide to the progres- 
sive breeder. 

Without such registration it is next 
to impossible to breed for any great 



length of time without inbreeding, for 
the very reason that, though representa- 
tions are made that the specimen is just 
what is inquired for, and is not 
akin to the strains of blood 
already possessed by the would-be pur- 
chaser, yet, if there is no recorded evi- 
dence of the pedigree' of the specimen in 
question, the seller may, if he chooses, 
-and this is too often done, furnish the in- 
quirer with a specimen close akin to 
those he has and thereby work great 
injury. But when a breeder is possessed 
of a copy of the register, which should 
be issued as often as every six months, 
one may sit in his rabbitry and make 
selections of the blood line he desires and 
therein find the name and address of the 
breeder of the particular strain of blood 
or the animal that he is looking for and 
then, in addition to registration, a record 
would be given of the prize winnings of 
progenitors of the animal in question, to- 
gether with the score of the same, so 
that one might feel nearly as certain of 
what he is getting as it is possible to 
be without seeing it, equally as certain 
as one who deals with a reputable dry 
goods house that sells goods by cata- 
logue and maintains a continued patron- 
age by fair dealing. 

Without a system of registration the 
mail order method of buying and sell- 
ing would soon cease. In fact it has al- 
ready nearly ceased in other districts 
where the industry has existed for about 
a year and the only explanation for its 
having lasted so long was the fact that 
breeding stock was so scarce and the in- 
tense interest awakened prompted 
people to take chances. But so 
soon as they learn what a really good 
specimen of Belgian hare is they at once 
become dissatisfied with the majority 
of stock in their possession which was 
represented to be "all that could be de- 
sired" and "the best obtainable," etc., 
etc. 

But the fact that the progeny develop 
disqualifying marks and other features 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 
OrriCIAL SCORE CARD OF THE 



American Breeders of Belgian Hares 

(incorporated) 
Adapted to the American Standard of Excellence for Heavyweight Belgian Hares. 

OWNER'S NAME 



ADDRESS. 



Specimen's 

Date of birth No.... 

Name Weigrht . 







Los Angeles 


, Cal 




190... 


CLASS 


SIZE 


SHAPE 


COLOR 


QUALITY 




Ticking- 

Back 

Sides 


* 


* 




* 




* 


* 




* 




* 


* 




* 






* 


* 




* 


COLOR 




* 


* 




* 


Lacing 




* 


42 


Ears 

Eyes 


* 


* 




* 




* 


* 




* 




Shoulders 


* 


f 




* 




Belly 

Front Leg's and Feet 


* 


* 




* 




* 


* 




* 






* 


* 




* 










Length of Vertebrae 


1 * 


* 


* 


SIZE 


Length of Front Legs 




* 


* 


* 


Length of Hind Legs 




* 


* 


* 


20 


Length of Ears 




* 


* 


* 




Size of Eyes 




* 


* 


* 








* 


* 


* 










Head 


* 




* 1 * 




Breast 


* 




* \ * 


SHAPE 


Front Legs and Feet 


* 




1 * 




Ears 


* 




1 * 


24 


Eyes 


* 




* 1 * 




Body 


* 




* 


* 




Rump 


* 




* 


* 


Condition 


Flesh 

Fur 


* 1 * 


* 




8 


* 1 * 


* 










Quality 


Fur 


* 


* 


* 




6 


Skin 


* 


* 


* 










Sum of Columns 







Possible Score, 100. 



Total Outs. 



Score Points. 



Judge 

President. P. O. 



.Secretary. Strte. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



77 



that show they descended from grade 
instead of the genuine thoroughbred 
stock, at once dampens the ardor of the 
recruit to the industry and prompts him 
to ask "How can this fraud be avoided?" 
But in the Belgian hare industry as in 
everything else the survival of the fit- 
test will eventually obtain. Necessity 
is the mother of invention and the ne- 
cessity for registration is at hand. And 
the life, pleasure and profit of the in- 
dustry, depends wholly upon registration 
and legitimate scoring and judging 
the other. These two features, skillfully 
employed, are really the crowning 
wreathes to all the efforts heretofore 
put forth to develop and establish this 
noble little animal in the heart of the 
American fancier. 

The haphazard, slip-shod, unsystem- 
atic and non-reliable ways practiced 
throughout the American continent can- 
not exist longer in this industry. The 
National Association of Belgian Hare 
Judges has taken up this matter of reg- 
istration together with honorable judg- 
ing and they will spare neither pains, 
energy, nor money to establish these two 
the most important phases connected 
with the fancy, ^n the highest degree 
possible to attain. 

The registration books will be in the 
form of a series. The first book will be 
for the registration of record-makers, 
those who have won laurels in the ex- 
hibition rooms in any part of the world. 
The second book will be for general reg- 
istration, or for what may be termed 
breeding stock, the same being eligible 
to registration in book No. i whenever 
they have won on the exhibition table. 
Book No. 3 may be termed the junior 
series. This will admit of registration 
of young hares that are the get of record 
makers at an age too young 
to score and to meet the re- 
quirements for Book No. 2, which is for 
general registration. Fifty per cent of 
the fee required for Books No. i and 2 
will be charged for registration in Book 
No. 3. Book No. 4 is the advance regii- 



tration intended for the recording of 
names, and the charge for this will be 
50 cents, and the record of the name 
holds good for one year. At any time the 
animal is eligible to registration in, 
Books No. I, 2 and 3, and may be re- 
corded under this name, and one name 
shall be used only by one party. Ap- 
plication blanks will be furnished gratis. 
Same must be filled out in full and 
affidavit made before a notary public, 
this to be accompanied by a pedigree of 
the specimen, when a certificate of reg- 
istration, numbered, will be furnished the 
applicant, providing the application is 
accepted by the Board of Registration. 
As often as once a month the full 
list of specimens recorded will be pub- 
lished in a leading journal devoted to 
the fancy. The full address of the owner 
will appear, together with the name and 
number of the sire and dam of the 
specimen. A complete record of all ani- 
mals registered will be published in one 
volume every six months and same will 
be on sale. The headquarters for tbe 
association will be 930 Grand View av., 
Los Angeles, where all information upon 
this work may be had for 10 cents in 
stamps. 



SCIENTIFIC PREPARATION OF 
HARES FOR EXHIBITION. 

Dressing the hare for exhibition may 
be likened to dressing a child for hav- 
ing its picture taken. In either case 
the subject in the hands of an artist 
can be made a veritable fairy. Follow- 
ing scientific mating comes the task 
equally as necessary in order to achieve 
the highest results in the exhibition 
rooms. 

Commencing at the same point, that 
upon which rests the foundation for 
success in breeding exhibition specimens, 
which is, the ideal specimen always in 
his mind's eyfc, the fancier may here 
indulge his imagination, in fact, he 
must excercise his imagination, and upon 
the extent of his capacity in this direc- 
tion will depend his success in producing 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



types approaching the nearest to per- 
fection. 

Having weaned the youngsters great 
care must be taken not to distend their 
stomachs by over-feeding and especially 
over-feeding with bulky foods. Of all 
the forage plants most likely to produce 
distended stomach, or paunch, is alfalfa 
and clover hay in any form, from the 
green grass to the cured hay. A large pro- 
portion of the food regularly furnished 
should consist of the grains and these 
in the concentrated forms are best. Any 
kind of hay food in unlimited quantities 
tends to distend the stomach and there- 
by destroy the shape, or prevent the 
development of that nice, round body 
with well sprung ribs and a circum- 
ference at the flank and over the loins 
of equal size to the circumference of 
the body back of the forelegs and over 
heart and lungs. 

The properly fed specimen from six 
to eight weeks of age until he reaches 
say seven to eight months of age will 
have a body of equal size at these two 
points and much like that of a weasel 
or ferret. This is the ideal style of 
body in the high-type jBelgian hare 
and it is easily obtained by pursuing 
the following course: The proper course 
is first, to select those foods best suited 
to the nature of the hare. First, then, 
the hare enjoys fibre. The coarser and 
drier of the succulent growths of the 
vegetable kingdom the old bark of ma- 
ture and thrifty trees especially, birch, 
apple, pear peach, plum, and the grape 
vine are the best. These are his relish 
and are to him what pie is to the boy 
and if he has this in abundance he will 
nearly, or quite, subsist, upon them. 
But the next best substitute is the 
well-cured wheat, oat and barley straw. 
These carry only a trifle of moisture 
and consequently a greater per cent, of 
the rich food elements requisite to the 
growth of the entire organism of the 
hare. 

Hares in confinement enjoy these 
fibrous foods equally as much as they do 



the soft and green foods. In fact, 
the coarse, dry, fibrous food is indis- 
pensable to their health as well as to 
their satisfaction and comfort. The 
hare is a ruminating animal. The 
soft, green grasses are a washy food 
and furnish but little or no fiber, and 
the bare is scarcely able to make his 
cud from this class of food, and when 
confined to this alone, he will eat the 
wood of his cages and does this out of 
clear necessity to procure the proper 
balance of ration natural to him. 

Consequently three-fourths of the 
forage given to a hare should consist 
of fibrous food and in the form of straw 
or barks, twigs from the fruit trees or 
coarse shrubbery. Of this the hare will 
rarely ever eat in sufficient quantities 
to distort the beautiful, symmetrical 
style of body natural to bim. However, 
it is well to feed only what the hare 
will eat up clean within a few minutes 
after being fed. The young hares should 
receive several feeds each day — as many 
as six or eight, lessening the number 
as the hare advances in age to about 
four months — an earlier morning feed, 
then late in the forenoon, again late in 
the afternoon, and then a late evening 
bite. The hare is a night-prowling ani- 
mal and a great portion of the time 
devoted to activity is during the night. 
This is the time he really requires his 
greatest supply of food. 

Of the grains oats is superior to all 
others. They contain the nervine and 
nitrogenous elements which furnish 
spirit, strength and endurance in greater 
proportion than that furnished by any 
other grain. It is questionable whether 
the rolled or hulled oats are preferable 
to tbe oat in its natural state as it 
comes from the thresher. One thing is 
certain, the hare enjoys the rolled oats 
best. He eats greater quantities and 
seems to delight in having little or 
nothing to do in preparing them, or else 
they are sweeter to the taste, though 
others will eat the whole, oats and still 
others will shell the oat, leaving the 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



79 



shucks and eating only the berry. Un- 
questionably the rolled or hulled oats 
furnish the food elements in the most 
concentrated form and therefore must be 
considered, at least for feeding exhi- 
bition specimens, preferable to the entire 
kernel, unhulled. By furnishing the 
necessary amount of nutriment to sustain 
life and promote growth in a highly 
concentrated form, we are certainly less 
likely to develop the large state of in- 
testines and stomach, thereby keeping 
the uniformly round shape with well 
tucked up flank. 

Of all the liquids, undoubtedly milk 
is preferable. Porridges made from tbs 
grains stand second. These are best be- 
cause they possess food elements in con- 
nection with the liquid necessary; con- 
sequently only a small quantity should 
be allowed at one time. 

The hare enjoys as relishes com husks, 
green sweet corn, string beans, land 
green pease, and tid-bits of these should 
be given him frequently — at least three 
or four times a week. 

Now, having selected and adopted a 
proper course of feeding our hare, the 
next is to give him exercise, or, in other 
words, to train him. Give him facilities 
for developng a lithe and symmetrical 
conformation. By this I mean length 
of limb, length of body and strength 
of limb, especially front feet and legs, 
that he may stand erect and on tiptoe, 
overcoming the tendency to a bear- 
shaped front foot. The circular pen de- 
scribed on page 45 affords the oppor- 
tunity for training, placing hurdles, or 
flights of stairs, at intervals in the circle, 
and the hare will bound over, raising 
them as he learns to scale them easily, 
until he is able to leap four or even five 
feet readily. This exercise, or training, 
produces an appetite, an ambition and 
a spirit which with the advancement of 
time develops into a fad with the hare. 
He actually looks forward to his hour 
of training as does the boy to his game 
of football or a spin on his wheel. 



Another important feature in the prep- 
aration of exhibition specimens is the 
frequent handling of them to accustom 
them to being taken up, posed, or posi- 
tioned, and to take these positions and* 
pose, to show them off to the best ad- 
vantage. The hare may be trained in 
several different and very taking atti- 
tudes. 

The stretched pose which is rep- 
resented by Champion Fashoda in 
this volume may be termed the 
English pose. Doubtless this is 

the Englishman's favorite pose for 
the hare. All popular exhibition 
specimens coming from England assume 
this pose when placed upon the table, 
and the inference is that they are trained 
to it. The upright pose of Fashoda rep- 
resented^in this volume was taught him 
within a period of about ten days, with 
two or three lessons each day. The 
pose of Ruby Prince, represented in this 
volume, is another that illustrates the 
susceptibility of the hare to training. 
The pose of Young Fashoda, represented 
in this volume, is still another style of 
pose. There are, in addition to these 
poses mentioned, the ones of Blooming 
Heather and Beauty's Noble, representing 
the hare to be posed resting upon his 
forelegs and arms and holding the body 
off the table one and one-half to two 
inches, and are very pretty and taking 
attitudes. These are poses that are the 
results of ideas originated at the Bo- 
nanza Rabbitry. Hares that are allowed 
to run with little or no handling until 
just before time to take them to the 
fair rarely ever show off to a good ad- 
vantage. Under the excitement and ap- 
pearance of the crowds of people and 
the commotion present at such places 
the hares will appear contracted and even 
to suppress respiration to such an ex- 
tent that they take positions almost dis- 
torted in shape of head, neck, back and 
limbs, and when touched by the judge 
they draw right up into a lump shape 
and will either lay their ears on their 



80 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



backs or drop one ear, swell out their 
eyes and rest their heads on the table, 
or on their forefeet, making a squatty 
shape. But, if well trained, the hare 
will assume attitudes of grace and show 
off in a spirited and intelligent manner 
which adds immeasureably to his chances 
for success in the battle of competi- 
tion. 

To bring about all these conditions 
is very easy. The stroking and groom- 
ing of the bare during his fitting process 
of course does a great deal towards ac- 
customing him to being handled, but in 
addition to this, he should be trained to 
pose in the attitudes chosen or considered 
best suited to his make-up. In this 
training process never get out of pa- 
tience. No matter how obstinate the 
specimen may be, keep up your efforts 
to place him in the position chosen until 
he ceases to move from it, for as long 
as one or two seconds. As soon as he 
is obedient to this extent, step back, 
hands off, and give him a rest, which 
is compensation for having done some- 
thing. He will soon learn that this is 
what you want of bim. Continue this 
process until the hare will assume the 
desired position and retain it for at least 
five seconds. It is possible to train him 
to hold this position for one, two, and 
even three minutes. 

The hare trained to pose beautifully 
and do it readily is a very fascinating 
creature and invariably elicits commen- 
dation from all lookers-on, and is one 
of the features of the fancy which is 
of inestimable va_lue in aiding to popu- 
larize this noble little animal. 

The hare is a highly sensitive ani- 
mal, extremely active and easily ex- 
cited; therefore, it is necessary to em- 
ploy moderation in all movements about 
him while he is undergoing the training 
process. After be is well advanced in 
his training lessons care in this respect 
will not be as necessary. Never grab 
the hare up roughly and swing him 



around in the air with a one-hand hold. 
Always, if possible, take him up with 
both hands, head toward you, pressing 
the arms against the body with hands 
clasping the hips, and be moderate. Do 
not grab him until he is settled down, 
if it be necessary to corner him, and 
stroke him even before lifting him. If 
handled from a young age the hare will, 
within a few weeks, learn to come to 
the door of his pen whenever it is 
opened. 

Little tid-bits offered him does much 
to win his attention and affection. It 
is always best when training to move 
the hare about to different places, from 
the pen to the barn and from the barn 
to the house, and accustom him to 
changes, even putting him in a box and 
allowing him to remain for one or two 
hours at a time. Move the box from 
place to place and sometimes change 
boxes and let him smell and investigate 
different quarters in the rabbitry. 
Really, if you are fitting a specimen 
that you intend to hippodrome from 
point to point for exhibition purposes, 
it is an excellent plan to place the 
hare in a box and take him out driving, 
stopping at a friend's house long enough 
to take the hare out and place him on 
the table for a while. Accustom him 
to being moved about and appearing 
in strange places. 

The bare, by nature, is a night-prowl- 
ing animal and feels best at sunrise 
and sunset. Never give him his training 
lessons at midday. Early morning and 
evening is the best time. Really, a 
hare should be protected from the light 
for a good portion of the day, giving 
him well-ventilated but darkened quar- 
ters. This is the time when he rests, 
possibly sleeps. If possible, always 
avoid handling the hare much in mid- 
day during hot weather. He is most 
especially sensitive to heat, being a fur- 
bearing animal. The cooler hours of the 
day, the cooler months of the year, and 
the cooler portions of the country are 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



81 



best suited to his nature. The most 
pointed and concise instruction possible 
to give in handling the hare is — persist 
in studying his nature, and in all your 
movements about him and your ideas of 
him be governed by the understanding 
obtained from this study of bis nature. 
Hares well trained and nicely handled 
never jump and bound and scratch with 
frenzy or make any efforts to get away, 
even to jump from the table. They 
may be trained to lounge on the table 
for hours at a time without making any 
effort to leave it. But hares unaccus- 
tomed to being handled, more especially 
the old-type of hare, will almost in- 
variably when taken up by the should- 
ers, or in any way, make a vigorous 
stroke with the hind feet, often cutting 
the skin through and repeat this about 
every time they are taken hold of. 

For the judge to handle such speci- 
mens on the exhibition table neces- 
sitates the wearing of gloves and wrist- 
ers or being very dexterous in letting 
go of the hare just in time to avoid 
the stroke of the hind feet and it is 
often necessary that he make repeated 
attempts, perhaps a dozen, to raise the 
hare in a way that will enable him to 
examine the different sections before 
passing an opinion upon them. This 
practically means that he must educate 
the hare, something that should be done 
before he is brought to the exhibition. 

The hare delights in his early morning 
frolic. This is the time of all the hours 
of the day when he should have the op- 
portunity to circle his race-course, 
climb his stairs or jump through his 
hoop. There is a great difference in 
hares as to their disposition to take 
exercise, but usually, by placing two 
side by side with a wire netting par- 
tition they will travel in a circle and 
the most indolent of them will soon 
learn to enjoy his race-course exercise. 
Others are by nature so spirited and rest- 
less that they travel incessantly during 
all the daylight and are by far more 



vigorous in this direction in the night 
time. It is this class of hares that we 
develop to the highest degree of style 
and shape and teach to perform tricks. 
The sluggish hare may be fitted and 
placed in very good condition by the 
grooming process, placing the hare on 
the table with, the head from you, put- 
ting friction on the body with each hand 
back and forth on each side and ruffling 
the coat up and bearing on quite firmly 
from the haunches to the shoulders, 
changing about and holding the hare 
with one hand and pressing on one side 
one hand while rubbing up and down 
and back and forth on the other side 
with the other hand. Then give him 
the smoothing down process, stroking 
the coat smoothly into place with steady, 
firm strokes. The hare will soon 
learn to brace against this rubbing, 
making his limbs, in fact, every cord 
and muscle in his body, rigid. This 
vnll in time give his flesh the appear- 
ance of a race horse and, of course, the 
ccat will improve correspondingly. Ten 
minutes grooming each day will effect 
a wonderful change in the condition of 
the hare within twenty or thirty days' 
time, though a young hare intended 
for exhibition purposes should have this 
training moderately from the time he is 
three months of age until be is ma- 
tured and as long as kept for exhibi- 
tion purposes. The hare will soon learn 
to enjoy this. The hare that will take 
a great- deal of exercise in his circular 
run really requires but little grooming 
though some is necessary. Another way 
that will suffice to place a doe for ex- 
hibition in pretty good trim is to allow 
her a chance to burrow. 

This they will begin about four to 
five months of age and as fast as they 
have made one burrow and seem con- 
tented with it change them into an- 
other pen or break their hole and fill 
it up with dirt. But usually the better 
plan is to change them into another pen 
when they will repeat the process of 
burrowing and work like Trojans. 



82 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




BONANZA. BEAUTY.- At 2 Years. 

Sired by imporled Champion Yukon; dam Princess. Tliis doe has produced stock that has 
sold, or could have been sold, for a valuation of over S+000.00. Property of Bonanza Rabbitry, 

T,os Ang-eles, Cal. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



83 



This gives them a good appetite, hard- 
ens up their muscle and, together with 
the table grooming, puts them in thor- 
ough condition. 



BREEDERS' ASSOCIATONS. 

Clubs of persons interested in the 
breeding and rearing of Belgian hares 
are now being formed all over the coun- 
try. Some are simple associations; 
others are incorporations. The great ad- 
vantages of these associations will be 
obvious to every thinking person. They 
promote public interest in the subject by 
holding fairs and exhibitions. The ex- 
position of February, igoo, at Los An- 
geles, was a conspicuous example of 
what may be done in this direction. It 
was given under the direction of ^he 
American Breeders of Belgian Hares, 
an incorporation composed of lead- 
ing breeders of Southern Califor- 
nia. About 1,100 hares were on exhibi- 
tion. The prizes offered and given ag- 
gregated thousands of dollars. The show 
was attended by nearly five thous- 
and visitors and the interest aroused 
gave an impetus to the Belgian hare in- 
dustry in California that will never be 
lost. An important feature was a class 
in scoring conducted by P. E. Crabtree, 
of Denver, the official judge of the ex- 
position. The members of this class 
received a thorough course of instruction 
in the art of scoring and are now fully 
qualified not only to place a reliable 
estimate upon the merits of their own 
stock — for all of them are breeders — 
but also to act as instructors at other 
institutes and to score the hares in other 
rabbitries than their own. Undoubt- 
edly, in the course of a few years, ex- 
hibitions of Belgian hares will be held 
all over the United States, every year, 
upon the English plan, but with this 
important difference, that the industry 
in this country will assume proportions 
many times greater than it has ever held 
in Great Britain. 

Breeders' associations should estab- 



lish herd books and registers with a most 
rigid standard of excellence uniformly 
enforced. This is the only way to im- 
prove the various strains and to place 
the industry, from the fanciers' stand- 
point, upon a permanent basis. The 
Pacific Coast is especially favored as re- 
gards its opportunities in this industry. 
With the favorable climatic conditions 
existing here, and the great variety and 
abundance of foods sutable to the hare, 
available throughout the year, at a very 
slight expense as compared with the cost 
in less favored localities, we are develop- 
ing a type of hare that will lead the 
world. 

Other varieties of live stock have been 
improved, step by step, through assoc- 
iations of breeders. Thus the American 
Jersey Cattle Club made a foundation 
for their pedigrees in stock imported 
direct from the island of Jersey, and ad- 
hered rigidly to a high standard, finally 
bringing the Jersey to a state of perfec- 
tion formerly unknown even in its own 
home. The Shorthorn, the Hereford, the 
Polled Angus, and the Galloway, as now 
bred in America, are far in the lead of 
of the original herds imported from Eu- 
rope. The same is true of the milk-pro- 
ducing qualities of the Holstein, which 
have been made popular by a most lib- 
eral use of money since their advent 
upon our shores from Holland. The 
milk and butter producing qualities of 
the Jersey, as well as her very great im- 
provement in size, are still more noted 
examples. These advances, of incal- 
culable value, have been accomplished 
through the enterprise of American 
breeders, who have spared no pains, and 
have made a most liberal use of money. 
The object in improving the Belgian 
hare is to secure the greatest quantity 
of toothsome meat at the least possible 
expense, and in the shortest possible 
time. The conditions are such that, with 
intelligent, united and well-directed ef- 
fort this result ought to be attained 
more quickly on the Pacific Coast than 
anywhere else in the world. 



84 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



ADVANTAGES OF PUBLIC EXHIBI- 
TIONS. 

The present high order of civilization 
owes a great deal to the object lesson 
gained at fairs. Without a doubt, 
equally as much benefit to the world at 
large has resulted from the minor fairs, 
the county fairs. State fairs and school 
and church fairs, and also poultry and 
pet stock exhibitions as has resulted 
from the world-famed exhibitions. 
Fairs are an object lesson and serve to 
educate as no other method of describ- 
ing, points in animals can possibly do. 
In reality there is no way to ascertain 
to what degree of perfection it is pos- 
sible to attain in the breeding of hares 
than for breeders to meet in friendly 
competition. The opportunities granted 
at fairs to make comparisons, take notes 
on the contrasts of the various points of 
quality cannot be gained by individual 
effort at one hundred times the cost 
attendant on making an exhibit at a 
well managed exposition, either of hares 
or any other branch of live stock or of 
any article of commerce. The stimulus 
gained at fairs carries the witnesses on 
for a year and, in fact, for years. Fairs 
awaken a sentiment of rivalry and a 
spirit of enterprise which are posessed 
by every person engaged in any of the 
lines of commerce. These are the key 
notes to progress and the disposition to 
rivalry prompts the outlay of money 
and vigorous effort from the most in- 
significant feature of a home up to the 
conducting of gigantic corporations, in- 
cluding the racing of railroad trains 
across the continent and the means of 
rapid or instantaneous communication 
sucb as the telephone and telegraph. 

Well managed and liberally patronized 
Belgian hare exhibitions are an impera- 
tive necessity to the development and 
permanency of the Belgian hare industry. 
None interested in the hare can, consist- 
ently with his best interests, withhold 
liberal donations of money, or at least 
his personal appearance and patronage 



to the Belgian Hare fair. It is an imp- 
erative duty devolving upon everyone in- 
terested in this industry to assist in 
popularizing this little animal. 

In fact, the situation is this, that he 
who withholds support and patronage 
is soon lost to sight in the realm of the 
fancy and, therefore, he is compelled to 
do one thing or the other; contribute to 
the maintenance and upbuilding of the 
industry or lose his identity with the 
fancy. 

ORGANIZING AND CONDUCTING EX- 
POSITIONS. 

Our observation and experience have 
convinced us that a close incorporation 
or association of a few individuals, per- 
haps a dozen or fifteen, is far more likely 
to make a success of managing exposi- 
tions of the Belgian hare than a large 
club in which there are always divided 
counsels, and which is very likely to be 
unwieldy and unmanageable. But in or- 
der to arouse interest and promote the 
industry of rearing Belgians it is ab- 
solutely necessary that the breeders 
of each locality should act in unison. If 
a few sincere, energstic people will or- 
ganize and will work together upon busi- 
ness principles they are certain to 
arouse the enthusiasm of the public in 
general. 

One good way is to form a regular, 
legally-organized incorporation. This in- 
vites the confidence of the community 
and gives standing to the enterprise. 
But, if this method is thought too ex- 
pensive or too cumbersome, an ordinary 
company may be formed. In either 
case, those associating themselves should 
at once contribute sums of money suf- 
ficient to give a working capital in their 
treasury and to provide for the pay- 
ment of all obligations likely to arise. 
Then, if an exposition, is desired, as 
will usually be the case, let all pull to- 
gether and call upon every resource, 
acting in all matters upon the same busi- 
ness principles that each would employ 
in his" own affairs. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



85 



The show should be planned months 
beforehand, for time will be re- 
quired to advertise and to enlist the co- 
operation of breeders. Six or seven 
months is not too long a period. The 
first step is to arouse the interest and 
rivalry of breeders by preparing and of- 
fering premium lists. The premiums 
should be as valuable as can possibly 
be afforded, everything considered. The 
club itself should offer money or other 
valuable prizes and can often secure 
special premiums from merchants, man- 
ufacturers and others in return for ad- 
vertisements of their business to be 
given during the progress of the exhibi- 
tion. 

Next, secure a suitable hall or other 
location for the show, and be sure to 
provide for ample room. The income 
of the fair will be derived from three 
sources, entrance fees for exhibits, 
rental of floor space and admission fees 
from visitors. The fees for entering 
the different classes of exhibits should 
be a percentage of the prizes offered, 
usually ten per cent. The floor rentals 
should be graded so that a large pro- 
portion of the hall rental will be re- 
ceived back from them. It should be 
provided that a certain number of entries 
must be made in each class or the prizes 
for that class will not be given. An 
admission fee should be charged suf- 
ficiently large to cover possible defi- 
ciencies in rentals of space for exhibits, 
and entrance fees for the different 
classes. The exhibits should be arranged 
along aisles in the hall ten feet wide, 
in such a way that each exhibit will 
front upon an aisle, thus giving the 
competitor a chance to bring his stock 
readily before the attention of the pub- 
lic. Every reasonable facility, not 
trenching upon the rights of others, 
should be afforded each exhibitor to ad- 
vertise and sell his stock. 

At a small show the highest prize 
may be, say twenty dollars in gold, or 
even a hundred dollars, for a large ex- 
hibition, or a watch or diamond, or 



something of that sort of equal value. 
This highest prize may be termed a 
grand sweepstakes, or an international 
champiouFhip, open to the world, or 
whatever else seems most appropriate. 
The number of classes will necessarily 
be proportioned to the amount of stock 
available for exhibition purposes in the 
particular locality and to the probable 
patronage of the exhibition in this di- 
rection. 

Do not hold an exposition for more 
than three or four days at most. Three 
days is long enough in a city of one 
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. 
Stop while the interest of the public is 
still keen and close the fair in a blaze 
of glory. Be liberal with the press for 
five hundred miles around in the matter 
of complimentary tickets, but cautious 
in giving them to others. Although you 
may have friends whose attendance you 
may desire at the fair, do not bribe them 
with complimentary tickets. Because, 
unless your receipts are large enough to 
pay all bills your fair will be a failure. 
This is the reason so many fairs con- 
ducted by large clubs make failures. 
The moving spirits do not agree as re- 
gards matters of expense. Some are 
lavish in their notions; others are nig- 
gardly; but the common result is a host 
of unpaid bills that must be met by the 
promoters of the affair or else the whole 
thing ends in disgrace. Every expend- 
iture in the nature of a reasonable in- 
vestment should be made. Otherwise a 
tight hold should be kept upon the purse 
strings. As a rule the public will be 
liberal in patronizing these fairs and 
there is no need of financial failures in 
connection with them. 

Finally, advertise freely, by means of 
posters and in the newspapers. If the 
fair is held in a large city, get reduced 
rates on the railroads from neighboring 
towns. At the Los Angeles exposition, 
in February, igoo, there was an atten- 
dance of nearly five thousand. All 
bills were promptly paid and money 
was left in the treasury. Secure a re- 



86 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




SWEET MARIE. At 9 Months. Property of Bonanza Rafcbitry, Los Angeles, CaU 

Weight 9^ lbs; score 94^^ ; sire Lord Ca3-enne; dam Princess Ma.v. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



87 



liable judge to do the scoring and pro- 
vide a committee of prominent citizens 
to devise and take charge of a plan for 
placing every competing specimen be- 
fore the judge in such a way as to insure 
absolute ignorance on his part of the 
ownership of the animal and absolute 
impartiality in his decisions. Then, 
there can be no possible complaint on 
the part of disappointed exhibitors. 

Bear in mind that all this means work 
and that organizing and carrying an 
exhibition of Belgian hares through to 
a finish is no occupation for a lazy man. 



THE SCORE CARD VERSUS COMPAR- 
ISON JUDGING. 
It is impossible for a judge to impart 
to the owner of stock a definite con- 
ception of its value under the conditions 
surrounding a contest where a large 
number of animals are on exhibition. 
Suppose there are from twenty to one 
hundred hares to be compared and as 
many enthusiastic owners surrounding 
the table upon which the comparison 
is to be made, offering suggestions and 
interjecting remarks. Their personalities 
will inevitably make some impresson 
upon the judge, no matter how honest 
he may be or how sincerely desirous 
of being impartial. Say what people 
may there is no rational, experienced 
breeder but will agree with this view 
that a judge, or any one in such a posi- 
tion, feel, at times, an almost irresistible 
desire to push a friend to the front. 
This is true of all public contests, 
whether in art, commerce, politics or for 
supremacy in physical attainments. 
Wherever there is rivalry people allow 
their enthusiasm for their friends to run 
away with their sober, honest judgment. 
No one can say in advance how far 
the upholders of any candidate for office 
will commit themselves to secure his 
election. The same fact is true in all 
lines and, where so keen an interest is 
aroused as is usually shown in exhibi- 
tions of Belgian hares, this spirit will 
inevitably be seen. 



The score-card system gives the owner 
of each hare scored, and ever interested 
spectator, a definite idea of the rating 
of that hare, and also removes all 
temptation and opportunity towards 
injustice. At every exposition the judge 
should be kept in absolute seclusion 
until his work is done. No friend of an 
exhibitor should be permitted to inter- 
view him. Each hare should be placed 
before him in such a way that he will 
have no inkling whatever of its owner- 
ship. Then he should decide upon the 
merits of each specimen and make a 
record upon a score card to which he 
attaches his signature. The thing is done 
then beyond recall. The record has been 
made in writting. The exhibitor has been 
treated with absolute impartialty and 
the judge has committed his reputation 
to that rating and must stand or fall 
thereby. He can offer no excuses such 
as "I forgot," or "I didn't understand." 

Unseemly squabbling, controversy and 
harsh criticism of the judge are common 
occurrences at all fairs or exhibitions 
where live stock competes for prizes and 
honors. This is true no matter what 
variety of stock is on exhibition, whether 
poultry, beef-cattle, horses, hogs or sheep. 
It will be equally true at exhibits of 
hares unless a system of scoring and 
judging is adopted whereby the judge 
must make his decisions "blind," that 
is under conditions that preclude all 
possibility of undue bias in favor of any 
exhibitor or exhibitors. This can only 
be done under a score-card system, be- 
cause, where all the animals on exhibit 
are brought together for comparison, 
their owners will insist upon being pres- 
ent and something will develop to oc- 
casion on their part ill feelings towards 
one another or towards the judge. 

The score card in common use is based 
upon the standard of excellence as agreed 
upon by leading associations of breeders 
of Belgian hares the world over. There 
is accordingly something definite back 
of the score card. By the method of 



88 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



comparison each judge makes his own 
standard and may pass upon specimens 
with many mental reservations if he 
chooses, or may refuse to be governed 
by what others consider to be merits and 
defects in hares. It is astonishing to 
note how closely different judges, who 
have all been educated in the score-card 
system, will come together in deciding 
upon the merits of specimens. This 
matter has been thoroughly tested. Not 
only will the same judge rarely vary 
at different examinations of the same 
hare, where every precaution has been 
taken to preclude knowledge that the 
specimen has been judged before, but 
different judges, undsr the same system 
approximate very closely in their de- 
cisions. These facts eliminate as far as 
possible the element of caprice from the 
problem and give the public a standard 
by which to judge the judge. If his 
ratings are erratic; if he contradicts 
himself; if his decisions are far re- 
moved from those of others equally com- 
petent to express an opinion, he will in- 
evitably fall in the esteem of the public 
and will give place to some other more 
worthy to be a leader. If, on the other 
hand, he is unprejudiced, fair, candid, 
accurate and consistent, he will inspire 
confidence and increase his clientage. 
When his decisions are in writing and 
on record, the public has some means 
of estimating his capabilities, but when 
his decisions are arbitrary and auto- 
cratic, as under the system of campari- 
son, others have no means of calling 
him to account or of correctly estimat- 
ing his abilities. 

When we have advanced a little fur- 
ther in the system of registration which 
is close upon us, other advantages of 
the scoTe card will be obvious, because, 
in certain phases of registration, the 
score-card ratines of registered sires and 
dams of specimens applying for regis- 
tration will be important. 

In every point of view the score card 
is of inestimable value to the uniniti- 
ated, for it tells them how near each 



specimen comes to the ideal. It is a 
certificate of qualifications. For a man 
to presume to say that he can judge a 
hare without any standard in his mind 
is simply ridiculous, and the man who 
stoops to do this is presumptuous and 
autocratic. But when a judge puts his 
signature to a document, his reputation 
is at stake and he has committed him- 
self in a way which makes him respons- 
ible. This very fact will tend to impress 
upon every judge a sense of his respon- 
sibility. In a word, this feature is just 
as essential to the Belgian hare indus- 
try as abstracts of title to the real es- 
tate business. 

Suppose a man in Boston wished to 
purchase hares in California. The first 
query coming to him is "what value 
can I get for the means at my com- 
mand?" How is he to determine this 
if he has no method of stating his wishes 
to the breeder in California? Shall he 
leave it entirely to the honesty of the 
latter? Suppose he wants a buck or 
a doe or foundation stock for his rab- 
bitry? Is it not the simplest way for 
him to write and inquire at what price 
he can obtain stock rating, say, 95, ox 
93, or 92? If he finds that he cannot 
pay for the 95-grade animal, he may be 
able to reach the 93 or the 92. But he 
has at least a definite idea of the hares 
that he is getting, as compared with all 
other hares. On the other hand, if he 
buys by a system of comparison, he 
knows simply that he has received the 
best, or the second best, or third best 
hares held in stock by a single dealer 
and has no way of knowing whether 
or not they are as good as other people 
possess. You can't buy hares, from the 
fancier's point of view, by the pound 
or the dozen, as you would buy coal or 
eggs. Where the elements of value are 
as complex as those that make up the 
value of the Belgian hare, a more elab- 
orate standard than simple weight or 
numbers is absolutely necessary. But 
we must have some standard, for there 
is a standard for everything, for water 
for irrigation, for gas and electricity, 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



89 



feet and inches, pounds and ounces. 
There is even a standard for brains in 
the schools and colleges that educate 
our young men and women, and this 
standard is one of percentages. Once in 
a while a student may compete for a 
prize and be judged by comparison with 
the others competing for that particu- 
lar prize, be it in oratory, mathematics, 
Latin, Greek, or something else. But 
when he goes out into the world and 
takes a place among other scholars, they 
want to know, not what his standing 
was on some particular occasion, but 
what his percentage was for his college 
course. Then they have a means of 
measuring him, not with a limited cir- 
cle, but with all students. 

Take another illustration of the dis- 
advantage of purchasing without a defi- 
nite standard of measurement. English 
breeders now admit that they have sent 
their finest specimens to this country — 
for the first time within the history of 
the industry. The prices offered were 
too tempting and they did what they 
had never done before, parted with their 
very best. Now suppose that a man in 
New York wants to buy from an Eng- 
lish breeder. Is he simply to take the 
best, by comparison, of those that are 
left in the hands of our English friends? 
If so, how is he to know whether he is 
simply getting the best of a lot of 
scrubs, or is getting a really valuable 
animal? How can the English compare 
what they now have with those superb 
animals that have recently left their 
shores? Is it not sufficient for them to 
say, for instance, "this is nearly as 
good an animal as Champion Fashoda." 
The buyer would want to know how 
closely he resembles Fashoda and in 
what points he is different. If the two 
had been scored there would be an exact 
measure of comparison, good for all time 
to come, a measure especially valuable 
if both scorings were made by the same 
competent judge. But in the absence of 
such a record, there would be no means 
of determining the exact points or sim- 



ilarity and dissimilarity between the 
two animals. 

As an aid to breeding the score card 
is equally valuable, as may be ueen at 
a glance. For the owner may have his 
does scored and can compare their merits 
and deficiencies with that of different 
bucks and can then determine to a 
nicety, which breeding of all those 
available would be most advantageous 
in each instance. For instance, a doe 
that is short on ticking, say standing 
a punishment of one and a half points, 
if mated with a buck equally weak in 
this respect, would bring offspring 
equally weak or worse. But, if mated 
with a buck stronger in ticking, say 
rated with a punishment of one-half oi 
three-fourths, the young will show a 
vast improvement over the ticking of 
the doe. This is breeding-up, and the 
same reasoning applies to other sections, 
such as the shape of the back and the 
color of the hind feet, in fact, to each 
section. 

The score card herein given is that 
which has been adopted by the National 
Association of Belgian Hare Judges as 
the best in existence. It has now been 
in vogue for three years. It was in- 
vented by Judge P. E. Crabtree, of Dan- 
ver, an acknowledged authority upon 
this subject. It has been subjected to 
many time tests and has proven satis- 
factory to many associations of breeders 
throughout the East and West. 
It is the only practical method that has 
ever been presented. The association 
mentioned above made a thorough in- 
vestigation of all methods and selected 
this as, in every way, the best of all. 
The farther their experience extends the 
better they are pleased with this sys- 
tem. The reader will note that the card 
is divided into twenty-nine sect'.ons and 
that every element in the beauty and 
value of a hare has been s^'on a valu- 
ation. There may be ^ome differences 
of opinion as to the relative value that 
ought to be given to different elements, 
but these differences of opinion are far 



90 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



less important to this industry ttan a 
substantial agreement upon a basis 
which affords a definite ard permanent 
record. We must either have accord up- 
om this question among the breeders of 
the country or else have inextiicable 
confusion. Moreover, the i" resent score 
card harmonizes with the present stan- 
dard of excellence. Any variation in 
the score card mil nHcessitate a corre- 
sponding modification of the standard 
of excellence. 



THE NECESSITY OF HAVING COM- 
PETENT JUDGES. 

An exhibition of Belgian hares will 
not be a success unless it has a compe- 
tent judge to determine the merits of 
the competing specimens and to award 
the prizes. If the judge is hesitat-ng, 
confused, partial, arbitrary or unreason- 
able in any degree, exhibitors will be 
dissatisfied and an unfavorable impres- 
sion will be left with the public. An 
exhibit conducted with a poorly-quali- 
fied judge at the head of it will do the 
industry far more harm than good. 

One method of ruining an exhibition 
is to mark all competing specimens ex- 
travagantly high under the mistaken no- 
tion that exhibitors wiU be pleased with 
a high score. This mistaken fancy brings 
the whole exhibition into contempt, for 
sooner or later, observation teaches ex- 
hibitors that their high-scoring animals 
are no better than others scored by a 
more conservative judge at a lower ra- 
ting. This discovery leads them to dis- 
trust and despise the whole system, a 
result which need never be if the judge 
is skillful, fair and honest. 

But fairness and honesty depend upon 
experience. A man cannot be compe- 
tent to judge Belgians unless he has 
studied, observed and compared a great 
number under the best instruction. He 
must have an eye that is naturally 
keenly discriminating and trained by 
a long series of comparisons. Undoubt- 
edly, there will be, during the next few 
years, numbers of pretended judges who 
will be practically imposters, men and 



women lacking in sincerity, experience 
and natural ability, whose only object 
will be to coin a few dollars at the ex- 
pense of confiding exhibitors. 

Committees having exhibitions in 
charge must guard against these pre- 
tenders or their exhibitions will result 
in discredit to all concerned. It will be 
not only the right but the duty of such 
committees, in all cases of doubt, to in- 
sist upon a rigid examination and a test 
of persons assuming to possess the qual- 
ifications of a judge. A committee can 
easily satisfy itself whether the claims 
of an individual are well-founded or not. 
If the members of the committee are 
satisfied, the exhibitors and observers 
are likely to be satisfied also. 

Doubtless, after a little while, the 
business of judging Belgians will be lim- 
ited to those few who prove themselves 
most capable and these few will grad- 
ually establish in this country, by mu- 
tual agreement, on essential paints, a 
system of judging that will be as nearly 
uniform as possible and mathematically 
exact. 

In the meantime there will be some 
uncertainty as to the value of the de- 
cisions of this, that, and the other judge. 
But, in this profession, as in all others, 
the most competent will eventually take 
the lead and those committees who are 
most particular in their choice of judges 
will accomplish the most towards reach- 
ing this very desirable cornsummation. 

A system of rating the qualifications 
of a judge precisely upon the same plan 
as the score-card system as appled to 
the rating of Belgians should be adopted 
by the committees of exhibitions in their 
examination of a candidate judge. 



THE JUDGING OF JUDGES. 
The growth of the Belgian hare in- 
dustry is destined to give birth to a new 
profession, that of Belgian hare judges, 
the legitimate members of which will 
be men sufficiently equipped by natural 
endowment and by special training to 
pass upon the merits of hares offered in 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



91 



competitive exhibitions or to score hares 
for owners in private. 

It will be of the utmost importance 
to the ultimate future and well-being 
of the industry that the ranks of this 
new profession should be kept free from 
pretenders and from those whose at- 
tainments are not equal to their aspir- 
ations or their promises. Breeders in 
general and especially committees hav- 
ing exhibits in charge will do much to- 
wards this most laudable end for no man 
can long maintain himself in this pro- 
fession, or in any other, unless his abil- 
ities are to a reasonable extent com- 
mensurate with his own estimate of 
them. In other words, not many fail- 
ures or miscarriages of justice would be 
necessary to place a judge in a position 
where his services would no longer be 
required. 

But those who enter this new pro- 
fession can accomplish still greater 
good, both for themselves and for the 
industry at large, by guarding its ranks 
with the utmost vigilance in order to 
confine this honorable employment to 
those who are really worthy to partici- 
pate. Open, competitive tests should be 
arranged among the judges of each dis- 
trict and, later, congresses or conven- 
tions should be held, at central points, 
open to the world, at which all who are 
interested should be invited to assemble 
and where all topics of importance could 
be fully discussed. All professions hold 
these conventions. Teachers, physicians, 
lawyers, even writers, come together 
frequently and consider those subjects 
bearing upon the advancement of their 
interests. And it is always noticeable 
that the stirring members of any pro- 
fession, those who accomplish the great- 
est good and attain the greatest dis- 
tinction, are the ones who are willing 
to come together for discussion, advice 
and mutual education. 

By this means and this alone can 
the scoring and judging of Belgian hares 
be placed upon a definite plan, with a 
uniform system, one in which all breed- 



ers, owners, dealers and fanciers can 
have confidence, and one which will make 
this business international in extent 
and above suspicion in character. 

Contests of this sort should be held, 
in turn, in different sections of the coun- 
try. Each should be under the super- 
vision of leading citizens of the section 
wherein held, men who would command 
the confidence of contestants and of the 
public at large. These men should pro- 
vide for rigid and thorough public con- 
tests in judging. Purses of sufficient 
value to be in themselves an incentive 
should be provided, each contestant pay- 
ing a percentage of the purse offered, as 
an entrance fee, or the purse being fur- 
nished in some other equitable way. Con- 
testants might be divided, when desir- 
able, into different graded classes, each 
contestant passing, when qualified, from 
each class into that next higher, the con- 
test closing with a grand sweepstakes 
competition, awarding the championship 
to the successful competitor. 

The above is a very brief outline of a 
plan by which such contests could be con- 
ducted. This could be varied and devel- 
oped to suit circumstances. In all cases 
the final result aimed at should be pub- 
licity, an opportunity for breeders, own- 
ers and the general public to become fa- 
miliar with the abilities of the respec- 
tive judges. This would be of great 
value to all concerned and especially to 
the judges themselves. It would inter- 
est the general public and insure a 
greater growth of the industry. 



A STANDARD FOR RATING JUDGES. 

For the most comprehensive delinea- 
tion of the American Standard of Excel- 
lence, 15 points. 

For the best explanation of the score 
card, 15 points. 

For the most comprehensive explana- 
tion of the application of the score card 
to the American Standard of Excellence, 
20 points. 

For the hightest rating in judgeship, 
25 points. 



92 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



For the least variation in test work, 
25 points. 
Perfection, 100 points. 



HONORABLE APPLICATION OF THE 
SCORE CARD SYSTEM OF JUDG- 
ING. 

Nothing can do as great injury to the 
Belgian hare industry as fraud practiced 
either by presumptuous or by legiti- 
mately authorized scorers. Frauds in 
any of the channels of commerce wreck 
institutions. Confidence in a system of 
judging the hare is of as great import- 
ance to the Belgian hare industry as is 
confidence in the stability of a bank 
to the success of its stockholders Ficti- 
tious score cards, either overrating or 
underrating the value of a specimen will 
destroy confidence in perhaps hundreds 
of people who are more or less interested 
and as many more who might become in- 
terested. A few instances of this kind 
scattered throughout the country will 
do almost irreparable injury to the in- 
dustry and turn many an intelligent 
possible recruit from entering the ranks 
of the fancy. 

In the judging of hares there is un- 
questionably, for quite a time to come, 
an almost unlimited room for imposi- 
tions by those who are unprincipled and 
care nothing for the good of the fancy 
but live in the present and for what 
money they can make out of it regard- 
less of injury done to others. Such a 
person is just as likely to score a 91- 
point hare at 95 points, or even 96. And 
a trifle more money for his trouble would 
doubtless make him see the animal even 
higher in the scale of perfection and 
prompt him to make a valuation of 97 
or even 98 points, sign his name and 
let her go. But in this as in other 
lines, the survival of the fittest will 
ultimately obtain, but, of course, this 
will never result until great numbers 
of people have been more or less injured 
in a financial way. 

The disposition of people to take for 



granted the say-so of Tom, Dick or 
Harry, the long-haired, Indian-fakir 
doctor, offers to the unprincipled, pre- 
sumptuous character of the same ilk 
a wide and profitable field for his ma- 
chinations in the hare industry. When 
people awaken to the fact that stand- 
ard authorities in the judging of hares, 
or those who are truly expert and who 
excel in this capacity, are the proper 
persons upon whose judgment they 
should rely, then will humbuggery, to a 
great extent, meet its death and the up- 
building of the industry make rapid 
strides and become a source of great 
pleasure and great profit as well. A 
religious application of the score card 
system of judging is an imperative 
necessity and the man or woman who 
will sacrifice the sacredness of this 
method of judging should be exposed 
and condemned, and, in fact, placed on a 
par with the criminal who extracts 
money by false pretenses. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE TRUE FANCIER. 
He who loves animals and he who 
loves his business will always have the 
highest regard for the industry in which 
he is interested. Such a character will 
make sacrifices, if need be, to accomplish 
results that will be of permanent benefit. 
It is by such characters as this that 
the new ideas are presented, new meth- 
ods employed, which may well be desig- 
nated as progressive. The fancier at 
heart never tires of working for the 
good of the cause and he never pines 
and sulks because things do not go 
exactly his way, or because of failure 
to win in competition. His greatest an- 
guish comes from a lack of opportunity 
to spread out, push on, improve the 
standing of the interest with which he 
is identified. The true fancier in any 
line is invariably a social character and 
is also open-hearted and liberal, and 
enjoys a tilt or a joke with one who 
has successfully competed with him, 
and, altogether, he it is who gets the 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



93 



greatest pleasure out of his business and 
out of life generally. 

In fact, but for this particular kind 
of a character there would be nothing 
but the old, non-progressive course in 
life we should see the man that just 
simply exists, passes the time and never 
creates a thought, never changes his 
course from one year to another. He 
still has the same old gray mare. He 
doesn't know her father or mother, never 
paid any attention to her breeding. He 
knows that she plows corn first-rate and 
that she never refuses to go: She never 
failed to get the family to and from 
church on time and old Sal is a good 
old nag. 

Or when it comes to the bovine, the 
same is true. He don't know whether 
nis yoke of steers were of the Devon- 
shire or Durham breeds, or whether they 
are Hereford or Ayrshire, and "guesses" 
there was not any breed to them. 

In fact, he does not know just how 
much milk old Blackie gives, or how 
much butter she makes, reckons she is 
pretty good cow, had her a long time. 
And this is an illustration of the ideas 
of the man who never has the spirit 
of rivalry and who is totally devoid of 
the sentiment of enterprise. No par- 
ticular love for old Blackie. If she got 
sick "reckoned" she would get well, and 
he might take her a bucket of lukewarm 
water with a little salt in it, but never 
took sufi&cient interest to give her any 
special attention or regret, much her 
loss when she died, if there was another 
left in the yard. 

This illustration goes on down the line 
from the equine to the bovine and so on. 
Now, it is not by such characters as this 
that the far-famed, beautiful Belgian hare 
has been evolved from the wild and un- 
tamed little cotton-tail. But the true 
fancier is ever on the alert for a new 
dash of blood to discover and he recog- 
nizes at a glance the qualities of the 
high type in whatever direction his mind 
leads and is never content until he has 



something as good, and better, if he can 
produce it. 

For the true fancier is really a pro- 
ducer and is not alone satisfied, though 
he may have the wealth of mines, with 
that which he may purchase, but he de- 
sires to show his handiwork in the prod- 
uct of his pens. 

And so sure as he is defeated in the 
exhibition arena so certainly may you 
look out for him. The true fanoier is 
never defeated. He may be beaten on an 
occasion but, to him, that cuts little or 
figure. He is living in the future and his 
hope and enthusiasm and spirit of 
rivalry are only augmented and his 
forces are soon put into action and he 
says to himself, "Never you mind, 
Brother Smith." "It is alright, Mrs. 
Brown." 

"We will see you later. We will meet 
you at Boston later on, or at Madison 
Square. You will have a race the next 
time you meet me." These are the 
thoughts that go through his mind, and, 
in ?iis mind's eye, he pictures out the 
beautiful points that may be possessed 
by the specimens that have defeated him. 

He at once establishes his ideal and 
this by criticising the specimens that 
have defeated him. The intelligent and 
progressive fancier is a stuient, a me- 
chanic, an artisan, and he is even a 
warrior and is also, like the great 
Alexander, sighing for new worlds to 
conquer. 

He, too, is most liberal toward judges. 
He never doubts the judgment of a 
sincere and competent, well-tried au- 
thority. He recognizes authority. He 
goes into competition expecting to win 
something, but not determined to win 
all, and not certain that he will win 
anything and, if he meets with defeat, 
he is certain to learn why it was that 
his competitor out-stripped him in pro- 
ducing a better specimen. But he never 
accuses the judge of "having it in for 
him," or of being stuffed and having 
a premature opinion because of the 



94 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



ownership of certain specimens being 
known. 

In the live-stock fancy the field is 
wide and the variety of conditions is 
great and the points of merit and the 
points of disqualifications are numerous, 
and through carelessness, and some- 
times through unavoidable occurrences, 
the true and expert fancier and breeder 
is liable to meet with defeat, but he 
who possesses the true love for animals 
is invariably endowed with a reason- 
able amount of respect for his own kind 
and a would-be fancier who ignores 
qualities in the animal kingdom surely 
will be lacking in these attributes which 
make a man a man, a friend a friend, 
a student wise, a mechanic and an 
artisan appreciated, and the fancier in 
pet-stock successful and admired. 

Greed, envy and petty jealousy find 
no place in the heart of the true sports- 
man. Really, these manifestations are 
detested by all lovers of friendly com- 
petition. The progressive fancier de- 
lights only in the success achieved 
through his own efforts and the com- 
petition arena affords the opportunity 
for a demonstration of skill and to the 
enterprising character success is a great 
treat and defeat is an invaluable lesson. 
But the grumbler, he who cannot take 
his medicine with a good grace, finds 
no pleasure in this circle, though he 
may, and usually does, stir up more 
or less commotion. Nevertheless, he is 
soon lost and forever forgotten as on- 
of the fraternity though it may be that 
he will need the repeated tumbling of 
a brick house upon him to convince 
him that he is out of his realm. But, 
sooner or later he will fail to find interest 
because of the lack of attention that 
his grumblings over his failures to win 
elicit from fellow-competitors and the 
public at large. 

A BELGIAN HARE ENTHUSIAST. 

Dr. B. C. Piatt, one of the owners and 
managers of the Bonanza Rabbitry, is 
probably the most enthusiastic man in 



Southern California over the breeding 
and rearing of Belgian hares. He is the 
acknowledged "father of the industry" 
in this section, this title being granted 
to him by common consent from the 
fact that he introduced the Belgian in- 
to Southern California and proclaimed 
its merits so effectively that, within 
eighteen months, some fourteen hundred 
rabbitries had been established, and the 
number of hares had increased from a 
few hundred to an estimated total of a 
quarter of a million. Undoubtedly this 
is the most remarkable record ever 
made anywhere in the propagation of 
any domestic live stock, big or little. 

As general manager of the Belgian 
Hare Exposition held at Los Angeles 
in February, igoo. Dr. Piatt made an- 
other enviable record, both in the suc- 
cess of the exhibition and in, the success 
of his own rabbitry in competition. This 
was the first exclusively Belgian hare 
exposition ever given and was the larg- 
est in attendance of visitors, number 
of exhibits, variety of classes and of 
the value of the prizes, and also the 
most satisfactory to all concerned, of 
any ever attempted. The Bonanza 
Rabbitry exhibited 114 specimens, all 
but three of its own breeding, and cap- 
tured tv/enty-one prizes, including the 
international championship and several 
prizes for the best, all-around exhibit 
in different classes. Dr. Piatt joined the 
class in scoring which was held under 
the instruction of the official judge and 
scorer, Mr. P. E. Crabtree of Denver. 
He attained a very high average in this 
class and is now a leading spirit in the 
National Association of Belgian Hare 
Judges, an outgrowth of the movement 
started at this exposition. This asso- 
ciation has for its objects everything 
that is for the best interests of the Bel- 
gian hare, including a system of regis- 
tration, the promoting of fairs and ex- 
hibitions and the education of the public 
in every phase of this subject. 

Dr. Piatt is a man who is ready to 
encourage all, including competitors, who 
are sincere in their efforts to keep the 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



95 



Belgian hare industry upon a high plane, 
both commercially and from the fancier's 
standpoint. And he will undoubtedly 
be heard from often along this line. 



CHAMPION FASHODA 

Head of Dr. Piatt's herd and is ack- 
nowledged to be the nearest approach 
to th ideal in existance. 

Fashoda is a phenomenon, a happy 
product of scientific mating producing 
the fortunate results that sometimes 
follow the best directed efforts in the 
breeding of live-stock. A great race 
horse, for instance, may beget scores 
of youngsters that will trot in the 2:20 
class, but only one in a lifetime with the 
combined qualities of body and brain, 
the speed, the endurance, the intelligence 
and the pluck, to lower a world's record. 
So Fasdoda is the climax in a long line 
of great ancestors and a multidude of 
worthy descendants. 

Fashoda is the only living buck ap- 
poaching perfection in style, symmetry 
and color and also of standard weight. 
In fact, he is nearly a pound over the 
standard. Before him the best breeders 
of England — and that means of the world 
— found it impossible to unite the fine 
lines desired in the ideal with the full 
size and weight demanded by the stand- 
ard of excellence. As to his form and 
symmetry we can only refer the reader 
to the excellent reproduction of a 
photograph which we give as a frontis- 
price to this book and to an inspec- 
tion of Fashoda's score card which we al- 
so present at the close of this description, 
for symmetry and form in a hare is 
something impossible of accurate de- 
scription by words alone. We can only 
repeat that, in these respects as in all 
others he is the very best that the world 
has produced. 

When we come to the element of color 
we find that Fashoda possesses a rich, 
rose-gold, under-color, together with 
beautiful, broadly-defined and wavy 
ticking distributed to a nicety, giving 



to his coat a luster and depth of color 
equal to mahogany tint, extending from 
head to tail, from vertebrae all but to 
hocks, and nearly full depth of sides. 
The lacing of his ears could scarcely 
be better, and from the lacing over the 
outer surface of the ears, extends the 
rare and beautiful tint best described 
as a golden tan. A breadth of this also 
shades the sparkling ticking of the sides 
into the snowy white of his belly, and 
under his jaws, blends with the bril- 
liant flush of the rufus-red on his broad, 
splendidly-arched breast. All of his 
feet are of the indefinable coloring now 
the object of every fancier's efforts and 
the most difficult element to attain in 
the whole standard of perfection. This 
wonderful shade is really a new thing 
in nature. It resembles a mahogany 
but has a brighter luster. It is like a 
wine color but not so deep a shade. It 
might be called maroon bui is a little 
darker. Define it as you may, it gives 
a finish to the whole effect as yet rarely 
seen upon Belgians. 

Fashoda has strikingly large and 
brilliant eyes of exactly the correct 
shade of hazel, beaming with intelli- 
gence, spirit anT docility. His bearing 
is alert and strong. He assumes, of his 
own accord, poses that are models of 
grace, and the immediate effect upon 
everyone who sees him, is that of a 
beautiful wild creature reduced to a 
congenial captivity where all may ad- 
mire him. 

We may summarize this description 
of Fashoda by quoting from some of 
those who saw and knew him before he 
came into our possession. He captured 
twelve first prizes on the ex- 
hibition circuit of England in 
1899, also seven specials, four 
medrls and four challenge cups, 
including the Crystal Palace cup, valued 
at $250, a trophy offered by the largest 
pet-stock association in the world, which 
holds an exhibition in London every 
year. An English authority says: 

"His feet and legs are enough to turn 



96 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 




CHAMPION FASHODA. 

(Bonanza Pose.) 
Property of Bonanza Rabbitr\-, Los Angeles, Cal. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



97 



the eyes of a breeder green with envy," 
and again, "An absolutely correct style 
and front." Another, "The best ever 
seen." Still others say: "With age he 
gets more beautiful," and "With his 
new coat in full bloom he will be the 
ideal." All say: " He wins easily in 
any company," and "He is the popular 
winner." and again, "The crack Belgian 
of the period." Popular sires produce 
popular young, who sell at popular 
prices, and are always sought after by 
progressive breeders. 

An old gentleman of refinement and 
culture, after watching our hares and 
especially Fashoda, the other day, for 
nearly an hour, remarked: "This is a 
treat equal to looking at beautiful 
women. The more you look at them, 
the more you want to." 

On the following page is the ofl&cial 
score awarded to Fashoda at the Los 
Angeles exposition, a card which consti- 
tutes a record the same as the record of 
speed made by a trotter or pacer in a 
race under competent authority. 



THE COMMERCIAL FUTURE OF THE 
BELGIAN. 
Dr. B. C. Piatt, the author of this 
manual, during a course of experiments 
extending over nearly six years, has 
kept steadily in view both of the im- 
portant phases of the Belgian hare in- 
dustry, namely, the rearing of the hare 
as an object of pleasure to fanciers and 
the rearing of the hare upon an exten- 
sive scale purely for his value in the 
commercial world. Both, of these phases 
will be important in the future, but the 
commercial phase will undoubtedly in- 
terest a greater proportion of the pop- 
ulation and be conducted upon the larger 
scale. Men of comparative leisure to 
study the hare as an interesting species, 
a new gift of nature, are unlimited in 
number. But the hare as a money- 
maker and a bread-winner will appeal 
to many thousands. This has been the 
experience of the old world and will be 
the experience of America. 



Foreseeing this point. Dr. Piatt, after 
securing and producing many prize win- 
ners and building up the finest herd of 
breeding animals in existence, confining 
himself strictly to breeding rather than 
to speculation, has also conducted ex- 
haustive experiments in making the 
Belgian as fully available as possible 
as a factor of commerce, strictly defined. 
We have already discussed the value of 
the meat sold fresh on the market. We 
have now a few words to say as to the 
canned meat, the pelts made into leather, 
the furs for garments, robes, rugs, etc., 
and the novelties that may be made from 
the feet 

Few people have an adequate concep- 
tion of the immense proportions at- 
tained in providing the staple articles 
of food consumption. Figures are dry 
reading and it is rare that any man in- 
forms himself upon the production of 
wheat or beef or pork unless he is di-- 
rectly interested in the industry from a 
financial standpoint. When he does read 
up on one of these topics the average 
man is astonished at the vast amounts 
of food supplies required by the people 
of any great civilized country. 

The hare industry is so new that all 
may be forgiven for the ignorance which 
is universal in America in reference to 
its merits. But in the Old World greater 
progress has been made. These coun- 
tries are thickly settled, cultivation is 
intense, wild game has all been destroyed 
or is reserved for the delectation of the 
nobility and the immensely wealthy. 
Therefore, when so dainty an article of 
food as the Belgian hare is placed upon 
the market, it is consumed in immense 
quantities. The following statistics will 
give some conception of the value of 
the rabbit industry in certain countries. 
We shall merely add that there is no 
reason why these apparently phenome- 
nal records may not be duplicated in al- 
most any portion of the United States. 

The meat of the tame rabbit is con- 
sumed in great quantities in France, 
Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 





7 

CUu, 






[iHCOBPORATlDl , 

WADtunim: US mvxi. w. u.sjl 



Body 

UxnilSBvUi 

Bides 

Hindqautof* . 
Jaws -. 



l^ekiiig 15 



Ears 
10 

Eyes 10 

Legs & Feet 
10 

Size 5 

Condition 
A 

Neck 6 

Imperfection* .- 



B»*y: -.-.. 

Flank end Bib 

Baek 

Loinr. 

Head 

Lacing — 

OtherwiM 



I Fore Itet . 
I Hind Feet . 



I Flaik .. 

[ Far 



^ 



m. 



^ 



7^ 



w 



w 



W- 






^ 



^ 



?i 



w 







Faifeotion 
Imperfections 
SCORE 



100 



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'^ 



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(^ 8... .■^^ct.jU:^:^^^ 



OFFICIAL SCORE CARD. 

Reduced fac simile of the Official Score Card of the National Association of Belgian Hare 
Judges, showing Champion Fashoda's score in which he ^yoa the International Cnampionship 
Prize of $100.00 in gold at the greatest Belgian hare Exposition, mart and feast e^er given anj- 
where. Los Angeles, Cal., February, 1900. 



-»-. 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



99 



Holland — in fact, all the civilized coun- 
tries in Europe, and it is said to be es- 
pecially relished by epicures. Paris 
alone is reported to consume weekly 
ever 190,000 pounds of tame rabbits, or 
10,000,000 pounds annually. 

A Trappist monk from the Cloister 
La Trappe, France, established a rabbit- 
breeding farm, and from there in a very 
short time the meat became a standard 
food article in France, Belgium and Hol- 
land. 

A German of French descent, Charles 
de Grody, visited France and studied 
and examined the process of raising, 
preserving and canning the animals. He 
went with his new enterprise to Great 
Britain, where he succeeded in getting 
capitalists to invest $10,000 in it 

At the time his partners had little 
confidence in establishing the article, 
but in the course of little over a year 
the manufacture and sale took such di- 
mensions that they were compelled to 
build additions to the factory at the 
cost of $500,000. They were compelled 
in four years to buy from Ostend alone 
300,000 rabbits weekly, besides their 
own product. They are now said to 
consume in Great Britain and 1} eland 
70,000,000 annually. 

In those countries, meats are much 
higher than in America, so it is safe to 
estimate the price realized by the hare 
farmer as one dollar a head, the retail 
price is quite double. Here is an il- 
lustration of the adage, "Very valuable 
articles are done up in small parcels." 
Surely bunny is a valuable animal, for 
he outclasses all competitors in meat 
making and profit yielding. 

This industry is to be started in Chi- 
cago and will bring a new food into our 
markets in the shape of canned rabbit. 

A representative of the great rabbit 
raising industry in Great Britain is look- 
ing for a large tract of land near Chi- 
cago that can be turned into a tame rab- 
bit farm. Here rabbits will be raised 
by the million. Their flesh will be 
canned and shipped all over the country; 
their fur will be prepared and put upon 



the market under the name of "electric 
seal." Fur of this sort has recently be- 
come very fashionable, and has made a 
large market for itself. 



CANNING THE BELGIAN. 

Realizing that the majority of the pro- 
ducers rearing the Belgian must 
be reduced to a business prop- 
osition we have made exten- 
sive experiments to show the feas- 
ibility of canning the flesh of the Bel- 
gian. 

This is an important industry abroad 
but has not been undertaken on an ex- 
tensive scale in this country. We can 
show, however, to the satisfaction of 
any inquirer that the flesh of the Bel- 
gian is wonderfully adapted to this 
method of treatment. It makes a rare 
delicacy, far superior to canned chicken. 
The white, tender, toothsome meat of 
the Belgian, preserved in a small quan- 
tity of the liquor or gravy, will keep 
admirably and will prove a most at- 
tractive novelty as compared with 
chicken, turkey, turtle, and similar high- 
class canned goods. The flesh of the 
Belgian will be cheaper because there 
is less waste. At least five pounds of 
clear, boneless meat, every particle of 
which is eatable, may be secured from 
each five months old hare of average 
size and weight. In this country this 
branch of the industry is as yet in its 
infancy but, like the different uses of 
the pelts of the Belgian, it is destined 
to attain enormous proportions. 



THE VALUE OF THE PELTS. 

We have demonstrated that the pelts 
have uses almost unnumbered. The first 
of these is for leather. To the surprise 
of all investigators into the qualities 
possessed by the leather made from the 
pelt of the Belgian hare, it has been 
found to be as tough as buckskin and 
is adapted to a far greater variety of 
uses than the buckskin. A strand the 
width of a shoestring clipped from a 
well-tanned hide possesses tensile 



i.irt. 




YOUNG FASHODA. Property of Bonanza Rabbitry, Los Angeles, Cal. 

Sire, Champion Fashoda; dam. Bonanza Queen II. The peer of his illustrious sire. 
Reserved for our stud. 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



101 



strength almost equal to iron wire of 
the same thickness. In fact, few men 
are strong enough to break such a strand 
by pulling it with one hand against the 
other. 

We have shown that the leather is 
especially adapted to use for whip- 
lashes, for covering baseballs, for 
braided reins to riding bridles, for Span- 
ish riatas, for belt lacings, trimmings to 
suspenders, shoe uppers for both ladies' 
and gentlemen's shoes, for gloves equal 
to kid, for book-bindings, burnt-leather 
work, doll bodies and an almost endless 
variety of similar uses. It is readily 
tanned to resemble chamois skin and the 
skins of younger hares may be tanned 
and processed to duplicate the finest 
of kid. We have worked out various pro- 
cesses of tanning, several of which are 
very successnful for the different uses. 
It is impossible to estimate the enormous 
demand that may arise for Belgian hare 
leather for these purposes. 



FOR USE IN FURS. 
The high-type, up-to-date, large-sized 
Belgian, with his rich rufus-red color, 
handsomely ticked, with either the 
snowy white or the creamy belly and 
the light, buff-colored side, furnishes a 
pelt that can be made into a handsome 
garment without coloring. But there are 
different processes of coloring, especially 
the electric seal, which add variety. The 
electric seal is a black and has been in 
vogue among furriers in Europe for a 
quarter of a century. These furs un- 
colored are especially adapted for chil- 
dren's wear, in caps, capes, muffs, boas, 
collars and for fur linings to gentle- 
men's overcoats, for linings to the wrists 
of gloves or for the whole glove or for 
mitts. Beautiful robes and rugs may 
also be made from these. In fact, these 
furs are adapted to any use of fur pos- 
sessing great warmth and great dura- 
bility. 



in jewelry stores as a charm. There is 
an enormous demand for these. The re- 
tail price, with inexpensive trimmings, is 
two hundred and fifty dollars a thous- 
and which would require five hundred 
hares. Here we have a value of fifty 
cents for a hare in the first joint of his 
front leg. 



AN ITEM OF PUBLIC INTEREST. 
Our city parks and our mountain re- 
sorts should be stocked with the Bel- 
gian hare. A few piles of boulders, a 
couple of two-horse loads in each pile, 
scattered through the parks, would af- 
ford sufficient protection for the hares 
during the dry season. In, winter they 
should be provided with nest boxes set 
upon three-inch legs. These should be 
placed among the boulders and covered 
with a roof. The hares would live upon 
the blue-grass lawns if they were also 
provided with a bale of wheat or oat 
hay or straw. They would require some 
coarse fiber to go with the lawn grass, 
which is too young and soft to afford a 
proper ration alone. The hares would 
be a source of much amusement to child- 
ren, and would also be interesting to 
children of a larger growth. In the for- 
est preserves the hares should be pro- 
tected by statute just as other game is 
protected. At stated seasons much 
sport could be had in hunting thtm. Tons 
upon tons of the delicate meat cor.ld be 
had for the taking. 



AS A NOVELTY. 
The hare's foot is mounted and sold 



SUMMARY. 
In a word, we have in the Belgian 
hare a fascinating animal as a pet and 
a novelty. Probably, throughout this 
wide country there are not more than 
two or three thousand of the best class 
and the greater portion of these are yet 
very young. This insures an increasing 
and enormous demand for hares of this 
class for several years to come and with 
a steady increase in price. Then we 
have an undetermined number of hares 
of a lower grading, most of which will 
ultimately be utilized as already indi- 



102 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 



cated in the arts and industries, as 
plain factors in commerce. From this be- 
ginning this industry will assume pro- 
portions which will astonish even the 
most ardent enthusiasts, creating a de- 
mand which will exceed the supply for 
many years. It will assume gigantic 
proportions as soon as capitalists realize 
the value of this new field and commence 
to interest themselves. 



AVOID INBREEDING. 

Don't attempt to build up a herd of 
hares from in-bred stock, or from stock 
that is stunted, weakly or deformed, or 
descended from stock that has been poorly 
cared for or from stock that is akin. 

Science and intelligence produce results 
from the Belgian just as they have pro- 
duced our noble Jersey and our spirited 
and magnificent families of blooded 
horses, from the beautifully-colored, 
symmetrical and graceful Arabian, 
through the kings of the English turf 
to the Kentucky thoroughbreds and our 
famous American harness horses. The 
first principle of scientific breeding, as 
applied to the Belgian, lies in an ability 
to select and mate individuals for pro- 
ducing definite results in higher types 
approaching the ideal. This ability is 
a rare accomplishment. Hence the breed- 
ing of improved types is, for the few 
who can bring it about, a permanent and 
profitable industry. There is a short 
cut of establishing points of excellence, 
as required by the standard of excellence, 
namely, inbreeding. Many fanciers adopt 
this means with a certain degree of 
temporary benefit in money returns. 
But in the end, this process is disas- 
trous and often leads to final abandon- 
ment of the business. Breeding closely 
related hares may establish points of 
color or other points desired, but also 
brings weak constitutions and a tend- 
ency to contact colds, which is the 
greatest obstacle to success in this in- 
dustry. 

On the other hand, outcrossing, ju- 
diciously employed, lends additional vi- 



tality to the progeny. Therefore, al- 
though the points sought for may not 
be secured so quickly as by inbreeding, 
nevertheless, there is no companison as 
to final results. For hares without 
vigor are sources of neither pleasure nor 
profit. 

Don't make pens less than 3 by 5 by 
16 feet, carpeted and covered with wire. 
Don't place hares on hard floors, whether 
cement, brick or stone. Don't make the 
pens of lath. The hares will gnaw out 
or dogs will break in. Wire alone gives 
the circulation of air and is therefore 
best. 

Don't fail to separate the sexes at ten 
weeks of age. Don't allow more than 
one animal in a pen after four months 
unless they have a large run in field or 
paddock. Even then do not allow several 
bucks in the inclosure except after cas- 
tration. 

Don't allow a doe to raise more than 
eight young in one litter. Don't breed 
her until her young are a month old. 
Don't allow young to run with doe more 
than six weeks from birth. 

In breeding be sure to take doe from 
pen of the buck immediately after the 
second service. Don't handle a doe after 
she is two weeks with young. Don't 
move or ship a doe after she is with 
young fifceen days. Don't change her 
nest-box in any way after she has made 
her nest or after she has kindled. If 
you do she may never go near her young 
again. Don't make the partition in her 
nest-box less than three inches high, 
when winter boxes are used. This will 
confine nest and young. Twenty days 
after kindling remove the partition. 

Don't allow less than eighteen inches 
square for nest space in nest-box back 
of the partition. A young doe will com- 
mence to make her nest about a week 
before kindling time. An old doe will 
commence fully two weeks before. She 
should be in her permanent quarters be- 
fore this time. To ship her or move her 
during the last two weeks of her period 
of gestation is to take chances of in- 



THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 



103 



jury to the mother and perhaps loss of 
the litter. 

Never catch or handle young hares by 
the ears. The muscles are not as strong 
as they are later. They may be weak- 
ened and the ear permitted to drop, 
thus disfiguring the animal. It is so 
natural to catch hares by the ears that 
special warning on this point is neces- 
sary. Don't fail to bear it in mind. 
Take the animal by the skin right over 
the shoulders — a full handful and hold 
the hare out from your body, or by the 
haunches, which method is still better. 

Never allow dogs to play around the 
pens or to jump at and frighten the 
hares. There is certain to be a loss in 
some way if this is done. Cats will do 
no harm as long as they are kept out 
of the pens and may be useful in catch- 
ing rats and mice. They will destroy 
the young hares if the latter are per- 
mitted to stray out of the pens so as 
to come within reach. 

Remember that hares cannot be kept 
healthy if confined in little boxes. Even 
if these boxes were cleaned three times 
a day foul air would prevail. Anyone 
can readily see the differences in the ap- 
pearance of these animals if they have 
an opportunity to compare those that 
have been closely confined with those 
that have had the freedom of large pens. 
Don't purchase stock for establishing 
a rabbitry without investigating these 
differences. 

Don't neglect to keep cured hay or 
straw, grain and water constantly be- 
fore the nursing does and to 
give some kind of succulent food 
once a day. In other words, 
their staple food should be well- 
cured grasses and grain, but they should 
have some green food to mix with this. 
The hare is a ruminating animal and 
chews a cud. She needs the cured hay 
to make this, but she also needs some 
green food for health. Even when hares 
are allow to run in fields or kept in 
portable cages they should have cured 
hay. They require the fiber vvliich is 
lacking in young grasses. Don't give 
wet grain, grasses or any kind of vege- 
tables when wet with dew or rain. Re- 
member that the best results are se- 
cured from feeding oats, wheat-bran, 
alfalfa hay, and green alfalfa that has 
been allowed to grow until it has 
bloomed. 

Don't allow your hares to get wet or 
their pens to become wet and muddy. 



Don't omit to keep before your hares 
a lump of rock mineral salt. A little 
salt is good for them. They will not 
take too much from the lump salt. 

Don't fail to remove the old nest straw 
each time when you wean the young 
and to give the does fresh straw two 
weeks before you expect another litter. 

Don't fail to place a tray a foot square, 
with sides an inch high, containing bran, 
close to the nest box as soon as you 
notice the young at the opening of the 
box, or about the fifteenth day of their 
existence. 

Remember that the young are to have 
no cold water until they are weaned. 
After that fresh water should be placed 
before them twice a day from April ist 
to Novtmber ist and once a day the re- 
mainder of the year. They should have 
constant access to fresh water. 

Don't neglect to sweep up the drop- 
pings at least once a week. Daily is 
better. 

Don't neglect to give the same con- 
sideration to buyers from your rabbitry 
as you desired to receive in establishing 
your own. Don't neglect to name your 
breeders and build a pedigree for suc- 
ceeding generation. Don't expect to get 
prize winners from small or 
inferior stock. Don't neglect to 
make a record of the name of each pur- 
chaser and of the stock that he buys of 
you. This may be consulted at any 
time, and your customer, and those to 
whom he sells, may thus avoid 
the possibility of in-breeding through 
exchanges or sales of stock that 
is akin. Never sell to a pur- 
chaser both sexes that are akin, or 
stock that is maimed or unsound from 
any cause whatever. 

Don't place strange animals that are 
over four months old in the same pen, 
or in the same crate for shipping. Never 
ship stock any distance before it is three 
months old. Don't ship in crates with 
closed sides or ends, or in crates that are 
not supplied with self-feeding grain 
boxes, hay baskets and drinking foun- 
tains. 

In brief, use your common sense in 
all particulars. Remember that you are 
dealing with a highly-organized, sensi- 
tive animal, one that responds quickly 
to liberal care and as quickly to neglect 
or indifference. The gratification of 
success should be a sufficient incentive 
to painstaking. If it is not, then rjon't 
go into the business at all. The hare is 
too noble an animal to be mistreated 
through ignorance or carelessness. 






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THE BONANZA RABBITRY MANUAL. 105 

VALUABLE SPECIALTIES FOR RABBITRIES. 

Dr. B. C. Piatt has invented and manufactured a number of specialties indis- 
pensable in every well-appointed rabbitry. They include everything that the 
breeder needs for his own convenience and for the comfort and health of his pets. 
We sell all these supplies in quantities to suit, wholesale or retail. We quote 
herein retail prices. Prices on larger quantities given on application. These 
articles are protected by letters patent. 

OUR HAY RACK. 

Is the neatest and most convenient known for feeding 
hay. It is constructed of strong wire and is very durable. Can be ad- 

justed to any pen in a moment. With this rack it is impossible for hares to 
catch their ears to or do themselves any injury. Price, $2.50 per dozen. 

THE BONANZA SELF-REGULATING FEED BOX. 
These boxes prevent the waste of food and keep it always clean. They are 
made of galvanized-iron, are neat and ornamental, can be regulated so that the 
supply of feed may be greater or less in accordance with the number and age 
of the hares in a pen. Will save their cost in feed vnthin a few weeks. 
They are 5 by 10 inches at the base, and 8 inches high. The self-regulat- 
ing device is an adjustable slanting slide. Price, each, 75 cents. Per dozen, 

$7.00. 

SELF-REGULATING WATER-FOUNTAINS. 

Made of galvanized iron; cylindrical in shape, with a circular base. By an 
application of a simple law of mechanics the two quarts of water contained 
in one of these fountains is suspended in the circular chamber and trikles 
out into the basin at the base as taken away by the hares. Water is kept 
fresh, clean and pure. Price, each, 50 cents. By the dozen, $5.00. 

The above three devices are economical of time and labor as they do not 
require frequent refilling. 

BRACKETS FOR SUSPENDING WATER FOUNTAINS. 

These brackets retain the water- fountains at any desired height above the 
ground. Made of strong wire, readily adjusted, keep the young hares from get- 
ting into the water, defiling it and injuring themselves. Price, $1.00 per 
dozen. 

SHIPPING CRATES. 

Made in sections suited to shipping a single hare or half a dozen young 
ones that have been reared together and will dwell in harm.ony. As many 
sections up to six as are desired may be added. These are one foot in height 
and two feet in diameter. They are circular in form. They will last a life 
time. Hares shipped in these crates take long journeys and arrive in the pink of 
condition. Express companies endorse this crate and return it at half rate. 
Price, single section, $10.00. 

CERTIFICATES OF SALE AND PEDIGREE BLANKS. 

For sale in books of one or two hundred, bound. These are ornamental and 
complete. Neatest of anything yet devised. Certificate nine by twelve inches, 
artistic in design, beautifully printed on a fine quality of paper. Contains 
full history of animal sold, extended in tabulated form. Stub serves as a rec- 
ord of the transaction and a private herd register. Price, book of 100, $2.75; 
book of 200, $4.00. We print in title of rabbitry and name and address of 
proprietor. Will employ a cut of any animall that may be desired. Cuts must 




ELMER E. PLATT. 

Son of Dr. B. C. Piatt and associate proprietor of Bonanza Rabbitry, the recipient ol a pair of 

rabbits on his eig'hth birthday, June 13, 1S9S; from this beg-inning- the Bonanza Rabbitry 

of today has been developed. 



THE BONANZA BABBITRY MANUAL. 107 

be two inches by four and a quarter inches, half-tones. When we furnish 
half-tones from photographs furnished us, the cost is $2.25 additional. 
CERTIFICATES OF BREEDING. 

Prepared on precisely the same plan as the above. Give full pedigrees of the 
bucks which they represent. From photograph of the buck desired to be 
illustrated on pedigree we will furnish half-tone and printed pedigree in ex- 
tended tablated form. Where cut is furnished we will furnish book of 100 
blanks for $3.25. When we furnish half-tone from photographs furnished us 
there is an additional cost of $2.25. 

ALUMINUM EAR-TAGS. 

Light, substantially made, of the best grade of this material, accompanied 
by a suitable size and quality of annealed aluminum wire, keeps the tags 
secure. Numbered consecutively in a series of from one to one thousand. Price 
$1 per hundred. Punch suitable for setting, special make, 75 cents. 
A SUPERIOR FORM OF PEN CARD. 

These when filled, serve as a private herd register. We print with title of 
rabbitry, or name of owner, without extra charge. Price $1.00 per one hun- 
dred. 

Dr. B. C. PLATT, 930 Grand View Ave, Los Angeles, Cal. 

REGISTER YOUR HARE WITH THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BEL- 
GIAN HARE JUDGES. WE HAVE THE BEST SYSTEM EVER DEVISED. 

OUR PLAN. 

We propose to divide all hares sent to us for registration into three classes. 
The first will include record-makers, and will be called the record class. This 
will include hares that have won prizes in open contests in public exhibitions. 
The second may be termed the general class. Into this will be admitted 
all hares that have reached the age of six months and score 90 points or 
higher. The third class will include hares under six months that have de- 
scended from prize-winning, registered stock, either sire or dam. It will be 
called the junior class. 

We shall have an additional book in which names selected for hares will 
be recorded. No other animals will be recorded under the same name. This 
insures protection to a breeder in theuse of a name even before the animal 
to which the name shall apply has been selected. This may be called ad- 
vanced registration. 

The uniform fee for registration in either class will be one dollar. In cases 
when a name is registered the hare to which that name shall apply will, when 
selected be assigned a number and a certificate of registration without 
additional charge. Transferring from class No. 3 to the record class, when- 
ever a specimen becomes eligible, will be made for a fee of fifty cents and 
a certificate of registration, giving record of winnings, will be furnished. 

Certificates of transfer from the original owner registering to a buyer will 
be made for a fee of twenty-five cents. 

Rules governing, instructions in general, together with blank forms of appli- 
cations for registration, and forms of certificates for transfer, sample of certifi- 
cate of registration, also an essay on the advantages of registration and of scor- 
ing hares, will be sent upon receipt of ten cents in stamps or coin. 

The certificate of registration is the most carefully prepared, beautifully 
designed and artistically illustrated piece of work ever put forth by the pro- 
moters of any live-stock industry in America or elsewhere. It needs only 
to be seen to be thoroughly appreciated. 

Address Dr. B. C. PLATT, President of the National Association of Belgian 
Hare Judges, 930 Grand View Ave., LosAngeles, Cal. 



AUG 29 1900 




NO PET STOCK BREEDER 

can afford to be other than 
a SUBSCIUBER to the 

AGRICULTURAL AND 
LIVE STOCK HERALD 



The pioneer publication in the Bel- 
gian Hare industry. Edited by Judge 
P. E, Crabtree, president of The 
National Belgian Hare Club of 
America, and originator of the Score 
Card System of judging Belgian 
Hares. One sample free. Address, 
Denver, . . . Colorado. 



VIRGINIA HOMES 

You learn all abowt Virginia lands, soil, water, climate, 
resources, products, fruits, berries, mode of cultivation, 
prices, etc., by reading the VIRGINIA FARMER. 
Send JO cents for three months^ subscription to 

Farmer Co*^ Emporia^ Va* 
^ ^ ENAMEL PAINT ^ ^ 

FOR RABBITRY PENS 

You can paint your Rabbitry with RINALD BROS. PORCELAIN ENAMEL 
PAINT, and it -will always be sweet and clean — no smell. Can be used on tin, cop- 
per, wood or iron. Anybody can apply it. You can turn the hose on and wash it 
out. Nothing will stick to it. No acid will cut it out. Will last a lifetime. Once 
used, will be always used. Can be had in pints, quarts, |^-gallons and gallons, at the 



Excelsior Polishing Co* 



430 S. Broadway, 



N. A. MARSHALL, Mgr. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



SEND 10 CENTS IN STAMPS FOR BONANZA RABBITRY CATALOGUE. 

It contains 56 pages, is lavishly illustrated; gives complete description of 
the largest and most popular breeding herd of Belgians in the world. It 
is the most beautiful thing of its kind ever published. Address Dr. B. C. 
Piatt, 930 Grand View Ave., Los Angeles, California. 



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